Ari Gabinet, 7 Baldwin Court, Pennington, NJ, 08534, USA

Received 11 October 2005.

Abstract

The proliferation of biotechnology start-up companies has led to increased scrutiny by the regulators of the securities markets. The author, a former head of a field office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, examines the growing cooperation among regulatory agencies in the U.S. and the basic structure of the disclosure and anti-fraud provisions of the U.S. securities laws. The author articulates the approaches that the SEC division of enforcement has taken to investigating and prosecuting violations of the securities laws by biotechnology companies and provides useful guidance for dealing with news that may impact the securities markets.