to those in the original complaint, claimed the defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5, and sought an unspecified amount of compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.
On March 3, 2021, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. On April 2, 2021, lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss. On April 16, 2021, defendants filed a reply in support of the motion to dismiss, and on December 16, 2021, the Magistrate Judge entered an order recommending that defendants’ motion to dismiss be granted in its entirety. On January 24, 2022, lead plaintiff filed objections to the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation, and defendants filed their response on February 3, 2022. On March 2, 2022, the U.S. District Court Judge adopted the Magistrate Judge’s order and recommendation and entered an order and judgment dismissing the amended complaint with prejudice.
On March 30, 2022, lead plaintiff filed a motion for post judgment relief, seeking leave to file a second amended complaint. In his proposed second amended complaint, lead plaintiff seeks to add allegations stemming from the receipt of a second CRL following our resubmission of our NDA for PEDMARK™, which we received on November 29, 2021, among other things. On April 20, 2022, defendants filed an opposition to lead plaintiff’s motion for post judgment relief. On May 4, 2022, lead plaintiff submitted a reply in support of his motion.
We believe that this lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend it vigorously. We cannot predict the outcome of this lawsuit. Failure by us to obtain a favorable resolution of the lawsuit could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We have not recorded a liability as of June 30, 2022, because we believe a potential loss is not probable or reasonably estimable given the nature of the proceedings and our success so far by obtaining a dismissal with prejudice of the amended complaint.
Fisher v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al.
On February 9, 2022, plaintiff Jeffrey D. Fisher filed a putative federal securities class action lawsuit against the Company and our CEO and CFO in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, captioned Fisher v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-00115. The complaint asserts a putative class period from May 28, 2021 through November 28, 2021, and alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 by making materially false and misleading statements or omissions regarding the status of our third-party PEDMARK™ product manufacturing facility, including the facility’s compliance with cGMP and remediation of deficiencies outlined in the August 10, 2020 CRL, and the impact its status and compliance would have on regulatory approval for PEDMARK™ in the period leading up to the Company’s November 29, 2021 receipt of a CRL for a subsequent NDA for PEDMARK™. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.
On April 11, 2022, plaintiff Jeffrey D. Fisher filed a motion to be appointed lead plaintiff and represent the putative class, and on May 9, 2022, the court appointed him as lead plaintiff.
On June 23, 2022, the lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint asserts the same putative class period from May 28, 2021 through November 28, 2021, is brought against the same defendants, makes allegations similar to those in the original complaint. On August 7, 2022, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
We believe that this lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend it vigorously. We cannot predict the outcome of this lawsuit. Failure by us to obtain a favorable resolution of the lawsuit could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Hope Medical Enterprises, Inc.
On October 29, 2021, Hope Medical Enterprises, Inc. (“Hope”) filed two petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the USPTO. In its petitions, Hope seeks to invalidate our U.S. Patent No. 10,596,190 (“US ‘190”), which is exclusively in-licensed from Oregon Health & Science University (“OHSU”) and relates to a method of using our PEDMARK™ product, and our U.S. Patent No. 10,792,363 (“US ’363”),