Bergen Brunswig Accused of Misleading Statements

Bergen Brunswig Corp., the third-largest U.S. drug wholesaler, is being sued by shareholders who claim that the Orange-based company made misleading statements to artificially inflate the company’s stock price. The class action, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims that the company and some of its officers failed to disclose financial problems connected to Stadtlander Drug Co., which Bergen purchased in January from Toronto-based Counsel Corp. “Bergen Brunswig Corp. should have disclosed to its shareholders at an earlier point in time the tremendous problems that it uncovered with respect to Stadtlander’s operations and financial reports,” said Lionel Glancy, one of the attorneys representing the shareholders. Bergen officials could not be reached for comment Friday. Bergen’s stock, which reached a 52-week high of $37.75 a share during the first week of January, has lost more than 80% of its value so far this year. It closed Friday at $6.75 a share, up 13 cents a share, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.