Galena Biopharma Pays For Stock-Touting Campaign While Insiders Cash Out Millions

Two articles touting Galena Biopharma(GALE_) were removed from Seeking Alpha Monday because they were written by the same person using different aliases. This is the second time Seeking Alpha has been forced to take action against individuals using multiple aliases to tout Galena, a small drug developer with a breast cancer vaccine in a phase III study. In January 2013, the investor Web site removed five articles promoting Galena written by the same individual under three different pseudonyms. The most recent incident is more serious and potentially damaging because of evidence linking Galena to a stock-promotions firm which wrote and published the articles on Seeking Alpha. The articles were part of a broader, coordinated "brand awareness campaign" designed to boost Galena's stock price, according to a document obtained by TheStreet. Aided by this promotional campaign, Galena shares tripled in value from this summer. Coincidence or not, Galena insiders have made millions of dollars by selling company stock in January. Galena did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment. In July 2013, Galena paid $50,000 to a subsidiary of The DreamTeam Group for 240 days of "advertising, branding, marketing, investor relations and social media services," according to a disclaimer on The DreamTeam Group's Web site.