Do firms respond to peer disclosures? Evidence from clinical trial disclosures

• Main Authors: CAPKUN, Vedran, LOU, Yun, OTTO, Clemens A., WANG, Yin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Peer disclosure; Clinical trial; Proprietary cost; Accounting; Clinical Trials
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/1789; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soa_research/article/2816/viewcontent/SSRN_id3344942otto.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We examine whether a firm’s decision to disclose non-financial proprietary information depends on peer disclosures of similar information. Using a sample of 5,035 unique clinical trials by U.S. pharmaceutical firms over the 2007-2014 period, we find that the firm is less likely to disclose its own clinical trial results if peers have published clinical trial results pertaining to the same medical condition. Conditional on disclosing clinical trial results, the firm is also less likely to disclose the trial results on time when peers have disclosed their clinical trial results. Our cross-sectional tests suggest that proprietary costs of disclosure play an important role in the relation between peer disclosures and the firm’s own disclosure. In particular, the negative relation is more pronounced when proprietary costs of disclosure are higher. Taken together, our findings provide new evidence on the interplay between peer and own disclosures of non-financial proprietary information.