Philip Morris International Wins Stock Suit Appeal Over IQOS (1)

Philip Morris International Inc. stockholders failed to show the company made false statements about the scientific studies it submitted to the FDA and about its projected sales in Japan, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday.

The investors’ proposed securities fraud class action was properly dismissed, Judge Richard J. Sullivan said for the unanimous appellate panel.

Two matters of first impression faced the court, Sullivan said. The first was whether company statements about studies’ compliance with international scientific standards—made with “inherently subjective” language—constituted inactionable opinion rather than fact. The second concerned whether “an interpretation of scientific data that is ultimately endorsed by ...