Replies to post #411 on Trading with Jerry Olson

[Fred Langford]

IMCL....

By Hollister H. Hovey
Dow Jones Newswires

NEW YORK -- Shares of ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL) moved higher Monday after the company's European marketing partner for the controversial experimental cancer drug Erbitux said it is planning to build a 300 million euro ($324 million) facility dedicated to therapeutic oncology proteins.



Investors see this as confidence behind the prospects for Erbitux, which was previously deemed not approvable by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is now undergoing additional clinical trials in Europe.



Merck KGaA, ImClone's marketing partner and the company running the additional European tests of the drug, said in a press release Monday it will focus planning efforts for a new large-scale production plant that should create some 260 jobs as well as 20 trainee positions. The company didn't single out the yet-to-be approved Erbitux, but said the facility would be used to "manufacture the latest generation of biologic cancer treatments."



However, the basic decision to build the plant has yet to be made, the press release said.



Officials from the German offices of Merck KGaA didn't answer calls, and an ImClone spokeswoman declined to comment on Merck KGaA's plans.



The investment in the site, which will be located in Jena in the German sate of Thuringia, is the largest single investment in the company's history.



While ImClone's stock has risen more than 36% in the last three months, it won't unveil the results of Merck KGaA's clinical trial until the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in May.



Merck KGaA isn't affiliated with U.S. drug maker Merck & Co. (MRK).



ImClone and ImClone's U.S. marketing partner, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), have anxiously awaited the data. If results are good, ImClone and Bristol-Myers have said they might be able to refile for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Erbitux.



In midafternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, ImClone shares were up $1.05, or 7.9%, to $14.38 on volume of more than 3.6 million shares. Average daily volume is 1.6 million shares.



ImClone's stock rose despite expectations that the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office plans to add charges against the company's former chief executive, Sam Waksal. The U.S. Attorney plans to hold a 3:15 p.m. EST press conference Monday to detail the new criminal charges.



Mr. Waksal was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court at a 2 p.m. proceeding in front of U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III.



The nature of the charges wasn't immediately clear.



Mr. Waksal was indicted in August on charges that he tipped off his daughter and father ahead of the FDA's ruling about Erbitux that sent the company's stock tumbling. In October, he pleaded guilty to six of the 13 counts in an apparent bid to get prosecutors to drop the remaining charges and stop pursuing cases against members of his family.



Manhattan U.S. attorney Jim Comey said in a statement that the new charges against Waksal and the "ramifications" of the investigation would be discussed at the press conference. The charges are apparently related to tax evasion in connection with the sale of artwork, CNBC reported Monday morning.



-By Hollister H. Hovey, Dow Jones Newswires