BFA is Co-Lead Counsel for Court-appointed Lead Plaintiffs Police & Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit, the Trustees of the Local 464A United Food & Commercial Workers’ Union Welfare Service Benefit Fund, and the Trustees of the Welfare and Pension Funds of Local 464A – Pension Fund.
This case arises from Defendants’ misrepresentations regarding ICON plc’s (“ICON” or the “Company”) business performance. Defendants touted that the Company saw “a notable pickup in RFP activity within the biotech segment.” Defendants also assured investors that, despite notable decreases in R&D spending from the Company’s large pharmaceutical customers, ICON would weather the storm because its customers “are all saying that they’re going to increase spending” with ICON. Further, Defendants materially overstated its “business wins” and “book-to-bill” ratio, key metrics that indicated whether the Company was shrinking or growing. Last, Defendants engaged in several practices which significantly inflated ICON’s reported revenue, profit, income, margins, and cash—such as holding open reporting periods to book revenue properly attributable to the next period, issuing “fake” invoices to prematurely recognize additional revenue, and omitting project costs—all in violation of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”).
In truth, the Company was shrinking. The Company struggled to integrate new business generated from a costly and ill-advised merger, leading key customers to decrease their spending with ICON. Additionally, several customers cut back on spending with ICON due to the Company’s poor performance, a shift in customers’ business models, and a decrease in COVID-19 vaccine-related activity. To obscure these negative trends and the Company’s resulting minimal growth, Defendants misled investors regarding the Company’s performance, including by publishing false financial metrics.
BFA and co-counsel filed an amended complaint on September 12, 2025. Defendants’ motion to dismiss is expected on November 12, 2025.
