Sorrento Therapeutics’ Covid Cure Comments Survive Investor Suit

Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. defeated a federal securities lawsuit by investors who said the California-based biopharmaceutical company falsely claimed to have a cure for Covid-19 in order to inflate stock price so it could raise capital and pay off debt.

Sorrento president Henry Ji’s public statements that “there is a cure” and a “solution that works 100 percent” are generalized statements of corporate optimism, and not the kind of material misstatements that can create liability under federal securities law, Judge Anthony J. Battaglia of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California said Monday.

Investors also failed to show ...