GlobeNewswire, we meet once more . . .
Shares in Petros Pharmaceuticals, a Nasdaq-listed developer of therapies for erectile dysfunction and penile deformity, are suspended up 230 per cent on apparently pretend news that it’s to be acquired. Five minutes earlier than US markets opened, the GlobeNewswire distribution platform despatched out a press release asserting a $67.2mn supply from non-public equity group Henry Crown and Company. It was picked up for repetition on all the standard aggregator companies — together with Petros’s own investor relations page.
Just beneath an hour later (additionally by way of GlobeNewswire!) Petros “confirmed that a press release issued on July 28, 2022 regarding a purported acquisition of the company was fraudulent and not issued by the Company. The Company is not a party to any such acquisition and has reported the fraudulent activity to Nasdaq.”
You may bear in mind GlobeNewswire from a phony news-drop in September 2021 that claimed Walmart was adopting litecoin. The firm blamed that one on a “fraudulent user account”, saying on the time: “This has never happened before and we have already put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent this isolated incident from occurring in the future.” Hm.
At pixel each the real and faux releases are nonetheless obtainable on Petros’s web site — although with no recall observe but from GlobeNewswire it won’t be 100 per cent clear which is which.