IDM Pharma plunges as it views options

USA-based developmental-stage biotechnology firm IDM Pharma saw its share price plummet 18% to a 52-week low of $1.05, after the company said on December 14, 2007, that it was reviewing strategic alternatives following the failure of its osteosarcoma product candidate mifamurtide(L-MTP-PE) to gain an approval recommendation from a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel last spring. The stock plunged further to $0.79 on December 31, when the firm revealed that its licensing partner, France-based Sanofi-Aventis, has dropped rights to develop its melanoma vaccine Uvidem.

Given the additional time and cost of responding to the FDA's concerns on its bone cancer drug, and then the blow from Sanofi-Aventis, IDM said that it expects to restructure, anticipates workforce reductions and is reviewing its options, including assets and costs associated with products under development.

However, it believes that a restructured business may be more attractive to a possible partner or buyer, noting that it now has full rights to its product candidates including mifamurtide, IDM-2101 and Uvidem.