Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Merck Vaccines Business Development Executive Was Tipper In MedImmune Insider Trading Case: SEC/DoJ


This is significant -- as it is now the second Merck Vaccines executive (or ex-executive), to be named -- as a tipper -- in two separate SEC Insider Trading investigations.

I'll have more soon, but The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on Merck's James W. Self:

. . . .Mr. Goldfield, 46 years old, made about $14 million from the trading in question, but later lost all of it, the SEC said. The agency named Mr. Goldfield's friend, James W. Self, Jr., 45, as the second defendant, accusing him of illegally sharing information he gained as an executive at a third pharmaceutical company that was privy to details of a potential MedImmune acquisition.

According to materials on the website of Merck & Co., James W. Self is an executive director there, overseeing business development related to the firm's vaccine division. A message left with Mr. Self's assistant at Merck wasn't immediately returned. A Merck spokesperson wasn't immediately reached for comment. . . .


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you'll update your site with Reuter's report:


http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNLDE6810AB20100902?rpc=44


Ed has it too!

condor said...

Yep. Thanks. Now Saphris has been approved by the EMEA for bi-polar. . . Yikes.

That'll be the next post.

Namaste

Anonymous said...

Wait...so, now Saphris is approved in the EU and the OSS plant is responsible for making Saphris ingredients but, Merck only now 'considers' keeping the OSS plant functioning.

Was this a plan to pressure the EU for approval?

Condor said...

Maybe -- but to be fair, asenapine, branded in Europe as Sycrest (not Saphris), was previously approved in the EU for schizophrenia -- by the EMEA, last year.

This additional bipolar indication is not likely to greatly increase demand, in my humble estimation.

Even so, a threat is never more operative than when it is known to exist, but not brandished.

Namaste