Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Medarex Gets Informal SEC Stock Option Inquiry

[Until now, this scandal had taken in mostly tech companies rather than biotech. All of these SEC actions are a consequence of the WSJ exposé two months ago (#msg-10227150). Isn’t it scary that, without the WSJ’s help, the SEC might never have taken any action on this?]

http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060524...

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Wed May 24, 2006 5:09 PM ET

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - Medarex Inc. < MEDX >, a biopharmaceutical company, on Wednesday said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an informal inquiry into its stock option grants and practices.

Princeton, New Jersey-based Medarex and San Francisco-based CNET are the latest of roughly 20 companies to say in recent days that federal prosecutors or regulators are examining their stock options practices.

Investigators are questioning whether companies are awarding executives backdated options exercisable at lower prices, making the options more valuable.
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