BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

ImClone's patent pothole

October 11, 1999 7:00 AM UTC

ImClone Systems Inc., which is trying to capitalize on optimism over its C225 monoclonal antibody to float a 2.5 million share follow-on, revealed an unpleasant surprise last week that caused jittery investors to shave 11 percent off the company's value. The disclosure spawned worries that a patent issued last year to Genentech Inc. (DNA) could block development of C225, a MAb against the EGF receptor that is in Phase III testing in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer.

IMCL (New York, N.Y.) became aware of the patent while doing due diligence for its S-3 filing for the follow-on announced last month (see BioCentury, Sept. 27). As a result, the company amended the filing to state that "we are aware of a U.S. patent issued to a third party that includes claims covering the use, subject to certain restrictions, of antibodies to the EGF receptor and chemotherapeutic agents to inhibit tumor growth." The patent is DNA's U.S. Patent No. 5,770,195. ...