NEW YORK, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gainey McKenna & Egleston announces that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Altimmune, Inc. (“Altimmune, Inc.” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: ALT) securities between December 1, 2023 and April 26, 2024, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for the Company’s investors under the federal securities laws.

The Complaint in the lawsuit alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Altimmune overstated the potential for pemvidutide to stand out from competing GLP-1 agonists based on the drug's efficacy and tolerability results observed in the MOMENTUM Trial; (ii) accordingly, the MOMENTUM Trial results were less significant to pemvidutide's clinical, commercial, and competitive prospects than Defendants had led investors to believe; (iii) as a result of all the foregoing, Defendants had overstated Altimmune's prospects for finding a strategic partner to develop pemvidutide; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

The Complaint also alleges that on February 13, 2024, Kerrisdale Capital published a report (the "Kerrisdale Report") alleging that "a deeper examination of Altimmune's data reveals a drug with little chance of competing against either the approved incumbents or the other GLP-1 agonists progressing through clinical trials." According to the Complaint, the Kerrisdale Report found that "[e]ven if pemvidutide did result in 15.6% weight-loss, that's not good enough" because competing, already approved GLP- 1 agonists "semaglutide and tirzepatide (Ozempic and Mounjaro) have demonstrated superior weight-loss on a comparable basis, with the added benefit of controlling blood-sugar (which pemvidutide does not)," while noting that "pemvidutide's tolerability is atrocious" compared to these same drugs. (Emphasis in original.) Therefore, the Complaint alleges the Kerrisdale Report concluded that "[w]e don't think legitimate prospective partners want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and years of trials pursuing an obvious dead end."

The Complaint further alleges that on this news, Altimmune's stock price fell $1.94 per share, or 18.65%, to close at $8.46 per share on February 13, 2024.

Additionally, the Complaint alleges that on April 29, 2024, Bloomberg published an article entitled "Altimmune Down as Guggenheim Sees Overhang in No Partnership," reporting that "Guggenheim Securities downgraded [Altimmune's] stock to neutral from buy saying [a] partnership for the biotech's lead asset pemvidutide look[s] 'increasingly unlikely.'" The Complaint further alleges that in particular, Guggenheim Securities stated that the opportunity to successfully fund pemvidutide's future as a treatment for obesity through a strategic partnership was "growing increasingly tenuous" and that "[t]he failure of a partner to emerge now five months from the end of Ph[ase] 2 presents an overhang that can no longer be ignored" as "a major partnership or M&A event would have materialized already if pem[vidutide] was viewed as a serious competitor in the growing obesity/ NASH landscapes by potential strategics or investors[.]"

Further, the Complaint alleges that on this news, Altimmune's stock price fell $0.87 per share, or 11.98%, to close at $6.39 per share on April 29, 2024.

Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Altimmune, Inc. should contact the Firm prior to the July 5, 2024 lead plaintiff motion deadline. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. If you wish to discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, please contact Thomas J. McKenna, Esq. or Gregory M. Egleston, Esq. of Gainey McKenna & Egleston at (212) 983-1300, or via e-mail at tjmckenna@gme-law.com or gegleston@gme-law.com.

Please visit our website at http://www.gme-law.com for more information about the firm.