The company has taken a legal action on the companies over their false statements and advertising, as well as conspiracy and the related manipulation of the public markets in connection with its implantable cardiac management devices
St. Jude Medical has also taken action on three individual defendants who are principals in these firms.
The firm’s lawsuit alleges that the firms and other defendants deliberately spread false and misleading information to lower the value of its stock and wrongfully gain from a drop in share value through a short-selling scheme.
According to St. Jude Medical, the defendants’ financially self-interested attempts to mislead doctors and patients demonstrate a total disregard for the patients whose lives depend on their cardiac management devices.
St. Jude Medical president and CEO Michael Rousseau said: "We felt this lawsuit was the best course of action to make sure those looking to profit by trying to frighten patients and caregivers, and by circumventing appropriate and established channels for raising cybersecurity concerns, do not use this avenue to do so again.
"We believe this lawsuit is critical to the entire medical device ecosystem — from our patients who have our life saving devices, to the physicians and caregivers who care for them, to the responsible security researchers who help improve security, to the long-term St. Jude Medical investors who incurred losses due to false accusations as part of a wrongful profit-making scheme."
St. Jude Medical vice president and chief technology officer Phil Ebeling said: “We recognize that the cybersecurity landscape is dynamic, which is why we partner with researchers, agencies, consultants and others to continually strengthen our security measures currently in place.”
