Maker of J&J Shot Hid Plant Problems to Boost Stock, Suit Says

An Emergent BioSolutions Inc. investor sued it in Delaware on Friday, claiming company leaders made millions on insider trades while hiding problems at a Baltimore manufacturing facility that hindered U.S. and global Covid-19 vaccine efforts by ruining 15 million Johnson & Johnson doses made there.

“During the period in which Emergent’s stock price was artificially inflated,” insiders “sold exorbitant amounts of company stock” while concealing the Baltimore plant’s “checkered history of manufacturing issues” and citations from the Food and Drug Administration, the complaint says.

Emergent didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery ...