Generex sues TheStreet, Feuerstein for $250M

Canada's Generex isn't at all happy with TheStreet and biotech analyst Adam Feuerstein's assessment of the company, and it's letting its displeasure be known--in the form of a $250 million lawsuit.

Generex is miffed about two articles Feuerstein wrote expressing doubt about the company's oral insulin spray Oral-lyn for Type 1 diabetes, and questioning the strength of the data behind approval of the drug in other countries. In the second article, he boldly states that further investigation into Generex work reveals that the developer is "using science and the quest to develop an alternative insulin delivery method not to actually help diabetics but as a ruse to perpetuate a 15 year-long stock promotion scheme."

Generex fired back with a lawsuit which, at $250 million, asks for damages that total twice the company's market cap. "These articles go well beyond the expression of disparaging opinion or fair comment," says Mark Fletcher, Generex's executive vice president & general counsel. "Feuerstein and TheStreet.com have abused their public forum by spreading categorical falsehoods about Generex and Generex Oral-lyn when a modicum of due diligence would have revealed the truth, an injury then compounded by unfounded and libelous allegation and innuendo."

The same day as the lawsuit was announced, Feuerstein published another article stating that while the company had gained regulatory OK for Oral-lyn in India, that approval was rescinded last year after the drug was on the market for three months. Regulators there said the drug's approval violated India's laws because it hadn't been tested in a local population. Yet the company made no note of the withdrawal in any of its documentation. 

- check out Generex's lawsuit
- read Derek Lowe's excellent take on the situation