The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Cecil-based Mylan Inc. disclosed confidential information about earnings to a select group of analysts in violation of the agency's fair disclosure rules, according to a report Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.

The day after the Sept. 9 meeting, at which Mylan CEO Robert Coury and President Heather Bresch were scheduled to speak, the generic drug giant's shares jumped 7 percent. Trading volume was heavy at 20 million shares.

Mylan did not respond to the Post-Gazette's requests for comment Wednesday. A spokesman for the SEC declined comment.

The SEC has contacted several investment banks whose analysts follow Mylan asking about the meeting, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Mylan told the Journal that it provided the SEC with information related to the meeting and that it was "confident the communications made during the conference were entirely appropriate."

Mylan's stock fell 49 cents, or about 3 percent, Wednesday to close at $17.90 on volume of 21.3 million shares.

The SEC's fair disclosure rule, or Regulation FD, was enacted in 2000 to prevent companies from leaking non-public material information to selected investors.

"The problem that the SEC was trying to combat was issuers currying favor with analysts by having little side meetings with them," said Jeffrey E. McFadden, a securities lawyer with Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C.

It is not unusual for companies to host invitation-only meetings with investors. But the law requires that any market-sensitive information be disseminated publicly.

Roughly a dozen Wall Street analysts attended Mylan's Sept. 9 meeting, the Journal said. Each was allowed to invite two investors to the meeting.

Following the meeting, some of those analysts issued reports to clients saying they were encouraged by management's comments.

"We have become incrementally more positive on Mylan's third-quarter [earnings per share] outlook," analysts at J.P. Morgan wrote after the meeting.

In another report following the meeting, a UBS analyst commented that "management sounded excited" about the upcoming third quarter.

"Although not saying it, management basically implied once again that it was confirming 2010 [earnings per share] guidance," the report said.

Mylan released third-quarter earnings Oct. 29, beating analysts' expectations. The company reported a net loss for the quarter but adjusted earnings of 32 cents per share topped the consensus estimate of 27 cents. Mylan shares rose 5 percent that day.

The meeting, held in Morgantown, W.Va., where Mylan operates its flagship drug-making plant, came the day after the company announced the departure of its chief financial officer, Jolene Varney, after three months on the job. Ms. Varney also had been scheduled to speak at the meeting.

Ms. Varney's departure, which Mylan described in a news release as a decision to "part ways," was a topic at the meeting, where, according to analysts, Mylan downplayed the issue.

"The company's commentary suggested that Varney's departure was driven primarily by fit issues, as compared to something more serious," the J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in their report after the meeting.

The SEC's fair disclosure law requires that material information be released to the public before or during any private meetings with investors, such as through a broadcast. Mylan did not broadcast the Sept. 9 meeting. Information is considered material if it could be expected to make an investor buy or sell a stock.

If material information is unintentionally disclosed during an investors' meeting, the company must "promptly" release it publicly, which the agency says means as soon as possible but no later than 24 hours after the unintended disclosure. One way to publicly disclose the information is by filing what is known as an 8-K document with the SEC. Mylan did not do that.

The agency can impose civil penalties for violations of Reg FD on a company, its executives, or both, Mr. McFadden of Steptoe & Johnson said.

SEC investigations of possible violations of the rule are not rare, according to former SEC Commissioner Joseph A. Grundfest. He said it is difficult to predict whether they will lead to any action by the agency.

"It depends very much on facts and circumstances," said Mr. Grundfest, who teaches securities law at Stanford University.

Mr. McFadden said that although enforcing the fair disclosure regulation is not one of the agency's top priorities, "in this day and age the staff is much more likely to act on any credible information they're given if they have the resources to do it."

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