Obalon Therapeutics Inc. Common Stock (NASDAQ: OBLN)
Obalon is purportedly a medical device company that develops and commercializes medical devices to treat obese and overweight people by facilitating weight loss. The Company claims that its initial product offering is the Obalon
balloon system, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") approved swallowable, gas-filled intragastric balloon designed to provide progressive and sustained weight loss in obese patients.
According to the law firm press release, on January 23, 2018, Obalon issued a press release disclosing that "a purported whistleblower contacted KPMG LLP, the Company's independent auditors, to make certain allegations relating to allegedly improper revenue recognition during the Company's fourth fiscal quarter of 2017." The Company further stated that "Obalon's Audit Committee will oversee an internal investigation of these allegations."
On this news, Obalon's stock price fell $1.73 per share, or 33.3%, to close at $3.46 per share on January 23, 2018, on unusually heavy volume. The $3.46 closing price represented a total decline of $11.54, or nearly 77%, from the IPO price of $15.00 per share.
The filed complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose: (1) that the Company recognized revenue in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting principles ("GAAP"); (2) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls over accounting and financial reporting; and (3) that, as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements and Defendants' statements about Obalon's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.