Apellis Says Investors’ ‘Reframed’ Appeal Still Scientific Spat

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. investors’ allegations concerning its injectable eye drug, SYFOVRE, were correctly determined a scientific disagreement over clinical trial protocols, not the basis of a valid securities fraud lawsuit, the biopharmaceutical company told an appellate court.

A district court rightly held stockholders failed to allege misstatements about the frequency and adequacy of testing for eye inflammation caused by the drug in a pair of later-stage studies, Apellis and CEO Cedric Francois said in their brief filed in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Wednesday.

The investors attempted to reframe their theory on appeal to be that ...