Novartis Unit Sued by Oriel Shareholders Over Buyout

Novartis AG, Europe’s largest drugmaker by revenue, was sued by investors in Oriel Therapeutics over claims one of its units defrauded them as part of an acquisition of the U.S. maker of respiratory drugs.

Officials of Novartis’s Sandoz AG’s generic-drug business made “fraudulent misrepresentations” in connection with the 2010 purchase of Durham, North Carolina-based Oriel and those statements prompted Oriel investors to sell their shares too cheaply, lawyers for former shareholders said in complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan.