ImClone's 4th-qtr hurt by $60M settlement

US drug developer ImClone Systems posted a net loss of $19.9 million, or $0.23 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. The firm, which achieved a profit of $46.6 million during the year-earlier comparable period, said that its payment of $60.0 million in settlement of a case relating to its primary money earner, Erbitux (cetuximab; Marketletter December 17, 2007), had impacted heavily on its earnings.

In the fiscal third quarter, ImClone paid $50.0 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Repligen to resolve a related patent infringement suit (Marketletter September 17, 2007). Commenting on the two deals, Brian Rye, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, said that, because neither agreement had increased royalty obligations, they had made "ImClone a stronger candidate for acquisition."

Fourth0quarter revenue climbs 14.5%