Vertex facing lawsuit from disgruntled investors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ investors had a class action lawsuit filed for them in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The suit, which was filed by the Dreier law firm, alleges the company misled investors by making false and misleading statements concerning the development of Vertex’s new HCV protease inhibitor, telaprevir, also named VX-950. Vertex intends to use the inhibitor in a new drug for hepatitis C.

The suit claims the company made positive statements about the progress of the drug’s PROVE 2 trial while withholding negative findings. A later release of all the data from the trial caused the company’s stock price to decline by 9 percent, according to the lawsuit.