Alexion Loses Bid to Dismiss Suit by Old Syntimmune Shareholders

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that it hasn’t tried hard enough to commercialize a drug originally developed by Syntimmune Inc. before the companies merged, according to a ruling by the Delaware Chancery Court.

The lawsuit—filed by Shareholder Representative Services LLC, which represented Syntimmune’s stock and option holders prior to the 2018 merger—claims that Alexion has failed to use “commercially reasonable efforts” to advance the drug’s approval in accordance with the merger agreement.

Under the agreement, Syntimmune’s shareholders received $400 million in cash, plus the possibility of up to $800 million in additional earn-out payments, ...