Pharmaceutical Industry Orange County

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of Orange County's most prominent corporations, said Tuesday that it settled two lawsuits that charged its internationally known Chairman Milan Panic had sexually harassed two female employees. The confidential agreements, which the company hopes will finally end years of allegations surrounding Panic's behavior, came late Monday on the eve of a trial in one of the cases.

Roche Holding AG is in discussions on swapping a stake in ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. for stock in the ICN unit that controls rights to its blockbuster hepatitis drug ribavirin, according to people familiar with the talks. ICN Chairman Milan Panic met with Roche officials Wednesday in Basel, Switzerland, and an announcement may come as early as this week, the sources said. Roche owns less than 5% of the company, they said.

International economic sanctions against Yugoslavia that have sent ripples through the boardrooms of some U.S. companies doing business in that war-torn country are causing a tidal wave in the executive suites of SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has a major operation there. SPI, a subsidiary of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Costa Mesa, supplies about 50% of the medicines and other pharmaceuticals used in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, said John D.

Biotech mania seized investors in the third quarter as a record 29 biotech firms went public, including Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Irvine. However, the outlook for the last three months of the year is considerably dimmer, said G. Steven Burrill of Burrill & Co. in San Francisco, a merchant bank that specializes in life sciences investments. Biotech initial offerings raised $2.4 billion, nearly four times the $688 million raised in all of 1999.

Bergen Brunswig Corp., underscoring plans to expand its fast-growing specialty drug business, said Monday it will buy for $300 million a Pennsylvania company that specializes in immune-system medications. The Orange-based drug wholesaler said it will pay about $150 million in cash and $150 million in stock to buy Stadtlander Drug Co. of Pittsburgh from its parent, Counsel Corp. of Toronto.

The researcher in the middle of the UC Irvine cancer research scandal has resigned from his position at the pharmaceutical company he helped found and that funded much of his research. Dr. John C. Hiserodt also sold his stake of about 1.5% in Meyer Pharmaceuticals back to the company for a slight profit, said Michael O'Neill, president of the Irvine firm. Hiserodt had been on paid leave since December from his position as vice president of Meyer. He quit his UCI post a year ago.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., the company that Yugoslav immigrant Milan Panic built from scratch, is well-positioned to benefit financially from its founder's announcement Thursday that he will accept the post of prime minister for his troubled homeland, financial analysts said. But depending on who is talking, the reasons vary widely.

Gensia Sicor Inc. appointed its largest shareholder, Carlo Salvi, as its new chief executive Thursday, handing him the task of leading the loss-plagued drug company into profitability. Salvi, 61, owns a 38.5% stake in the company, mostly through his controlling interest in a company Gensia acquired early last year--Rakepoll Holding B.V. of the Netherlands, according to Gensia's recent proxy. The company's longtime chief executive, David F.

Bergen Brunswig Corp., a drug wholesaler whose credit rating has been cut three times since April, said Chase Manhattan Bank will underwrite and arrange $1.5 billion in new senior secured credit facilities. The new loan would replace Bergen's two existing revolving credit lines--a $600-million, 364-day facility due April and a $400-million facility due March 2001--and expand its borrowing capacity by $500 million. Shares of Orange-based Bergen, the third-largest U.S.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., moving to expand its Internet business, said it will begin selling over-the-counter drugs to retail customers and expand business-to-business services. The Costa Mesa drug manufacturer said it will upgrade its Web offerings for such business services as ordering drugs and checking the status of orders. The estimated costs of the expansion were not disclosed.

Botox, Allergan Inc.'s star drug that comes from botulinum, recently received a strong endorsement for treating migraines. In a presentation to the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery in early November, Dr. Richard Glogau of UC San Francisco said that nearly 20 of 24 patients he injected with Botox experienced migraine relief for up to six months. The small study by Glogau, who serves as an Allergan consultant, corroborates previous findings that Botox can relieve headaches.

Schering-Plough Corp.'s experimental hepatitis drug, Peg-Intron, is more effective than the standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C when the drug is combined with ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s ribavirin, a study said. Combining Peg-Intron with ribavirin reduced the virus to undetectable levels in 54% of patients, according to the study presented Tuesday.

NeoTherapeutics Inc., an Irvine biopharmaceutical maker, said Friday that its Neotrofin drug is being tested in more than 1,500 patients with Alzheimer's disease in a six-month international clinical study. The company said in a press release that Neotrofin, in an earlier study, showed improvement in cognition and behavior among 400 Alzheimer's patients after 90 days of treatment. A second study, of 400 patients over 90 days in the U.S.

A dissident ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. shareholder asked the Costa Mesa drug maker Tuesday to turn over documents related to a planned restructuring, saying it needs the information to investigate possible mismanagement and wrongdoing by the company. Special Situations Partners Inc., which owns about 8.5% of ICN, including options, said in a letter to ICN that it wants memos, presentations and other documents related to the restructuring and reports from ICN's outside advisors.

Bergen Brunswig Corp., the nation's third-largest distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, said Tuesday that James R. Mellor was named chairman of the board's executive committee. The company, based in Orange, said in a press release that the executive committee exercises corporate oversight when the board is not in session. Mellor, a director since 1979, replaces Robert E. Martini as head of the executive committee.

NeoTherapeutics Inc., an Irvine biopharmaceutical company, said Monday it has raised $5 million by selling preferred stock that can be converted into a 10% stake in its genomic research unit, NeoGene Technologies Inc. The company said in a news release that it will use proceeds of the sale, a private placement, to expand research at NeoGene. It did not identify the institutional investors that bought the stock.

Shares of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell 16% Thursday after the Costa Mesa-based company posted second-quarter earnings that fell below analysts' estimates. The drug maker said it had boosted spending to expand its European business. Shares fell $4.06 to $20.75 in trading of 4.7 million, almost 10 times the three-month daily average volume. It was the biggest one-day percentage decline in more than four years. The stock has lost nearly 43% of its value since hitting a 52-week high of $36.

Orange-based Bergen Brunswig Drug Co. is turning its pharmaceutical distribution business digital, providing the infrastructure for independent and chain drug stores to sell online, the company said Monday.

Shares of Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 16% in their first day of trading Tuesday, before settling back to close about 2% above the initial offering price. The Irvine research and development company, backed in part by eye-care company Allergan Inc., closed at $10.75 a share, up 25 cents in Nasdaq trading. In early trading, the stock hit $12.13 a share. The company had raised about $31.5 million late Monday by selling 3 million shares to its underwriters at $10.50 a share.

Techniclone Corp., a once moribund biopharmaceutical company revived when technology stocks started to shoot up late last year, said Monday that its improved financial outlook has led auditors to drop certain cautionary language from regulatory reports.