Overview
Cohen Milstein, as sole Lead Counsel, represents investors of Perrigo Company PLC, who allege the company and its executives made materially false and misleading statements during the Class Period, November 1, 2022 through November 5, 2025, regarding one of the company’s most significant product line: infant formula.
Unbeknownst to investors, Perrigo’s manufacturing facilities including its much-touted investment in acquiring the “Gateway” infant formula facility from Nestlé, allegedly suffered from chronic underinvestment and deferred maintenance, falling dangerously short of FDA regulatory requirements. As a result, production capacity declined and the infant formula business failed to produce the promised boost to revenue and earnings per share.
Lead Plaintiff further alleges that the Defendants concealed the true state of their infant formula business, thereby artificially inflating the company’s stock price while they personally enriched themselves through insider sales and bonuses tied to the formula business’s perceived success.
As a result of the alleged misstatements and fraud coming to light, Perrigo’s stock price plummeted, ultimately destroying over $3.4 billion in shareholder value.
Important Dates & Rulings
- On May 13, 2026, Lead Plaintiff filed an amended complaint with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.
- On February 13, 2026, Judge Margaret M. Garnett appointed the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 710 Pension Fund as Lead Plaintiff and Cohen Milstein as sole Lead Counsel.
- On January 16, 2026, Cohen Milstein filed a motion for appointment of lead plaintiff and lead counsel on behalf of a Perrigo investor, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 710 Pension Fund.
Case Background
Perrigo manufactures infant formula and other over-the-counter health and wellness solutions sold throughout the United States and internationally. Perrigo’s “Nutrition” segment, which largely consists of infant formula sales, is the company’s third largest segment by sales in North America., representing approximately 17% of the company’s FY 2024 sales in that segment
On November 1, 2022, Perrigo announced the acquisition of Nestlé’s Gateway infant formula plant in Wisconsin, along with the U.S. and Canadian rights to Nestlé’s Good Start® infant formula brand, for $170 million.
Lead Plaintiff alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose materially adverse facts about the company’s business, operations, and financials.
In particular, Lead Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants concealed that Gateway was a facility that Nestlé had run into the ground in the year leading up to the acquisition, with a leaking roof and key equipment that was aged and suffered from micro-cracks creating a heightend risk of dangerous bacterial contamination. Significantly, just months before the acquisition, an FDA inspection had identified numerous violations, including multiple positive results for Cronobacter contamination. Nevertheless, Defendants repeatedly assured investors that the acquisition would be “immediately accretive” of net sales, margin, and earnings per share.
Throughout the Class Period, Defendants also boasted that Perrigo was “achieving industry-leading quality control at near historical record production levels”; and that the company’s plants were “extremely well-disciplined well-run plants with GMPs that drive quality production.” In reality, both Gateway and Perrigo’s pre-existing Vermont formula facility failed to comply with good manufacturing practices and had regulatory issues, and did not reliably produce safe, sanitary infant formula at the levels touted by Defendants. During the Class Period, Perrigo had to recall formula on multiple occasions due to Cronobacter or errors in the formulation. By 2024, Perrigo’s chronic inability to fill orders cost it a crucial customer.
Lead Plaintiff further alleges that while making consistent positive statements, Defendants knew and had access to information that contradicted their representations about the Gateway acquisition and the stability and success of Perrigo’s infant formula business as a whole.
The truth was gradually revealed through a series of partial disclosures during the Class Period, which caused the stock price to drop precipitously. Even as Defendants disclosed some of the bad news—including millions of dollars in remediation costs and scrapped product—they falsely reassured investors with claims that the facilities were “fully compliant and operationally reliable” and that the “big intervention[s]” were “largely done.”
Finally, to investors’ surprise, on November 5, 2025, Perrigo announced a “strategic review” of the infant formula business –and slashed its earnings guidance. On this news, Perrigo’s stock price fell $5.09, or 25.2%, to close at $15.10 per share, a loss of approximately $1 billion in market capitalization in a single day. Just a few months after the Class Period ended, Perrigo recognized a $1.3 billion goodwill impairment and eliminated infant formula from “CORE Perrigo,” its “go-forward business,” while the FDA issued another inspection notice.
Lead Plaintiff further asserts that while Defendants concealed the truth from Perrigo investors, the Individual Defendants personally profited. Certain executive’s bonuses were tied to the perceived success of the Gateway acquisition and the infant formula business, creating a strong motive to conceal the fundamental problems. And one executive went as far as selling over $7 million of his Perrigo common stock at artificially inflated prices just two weeks after the FDA issued a non-public inspection notice identifying multiple Cronobacter positives and serious systemic issues at Gateway.
As a consequence of Defendants’ fraud, and following the series of disclosures of corrective information, Perrigo’s stock price collapsed from its Class Period high of $40.11 on the first day of the Class Period to $15.10 after the final corrective disclosure, a difference of $25.01 or a -62.35% decline.