ICN’s Bulging Purse Bodes Well for Research, Panic Says

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. is cash rich, which should help spur more research and development at the Costa Mesa drug maker, Chairman Milan Panic told investors Tuesday.

Panic said he expects cash flow to rise to almost $400 million this year from more than $300 million in 2000, on rising sales of its ribavirin hepatitis drug, its biggest product.

Still, Panic noted, sales of ribavirin slowed in the fourth quarter as some doctors refrained from prescribing the drug to new patients and waited to see whether ICN’s partner Schering-Plough Corp. can win approval for an improved treatment.

ICN also said it filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin human tests on levovirin, its next-generation version of ribavirin. Preclinical research on levovirin has shown the drug could have fewer side effects such as birth defects than ribavirin, analysts say.

Hepatitis C is the most common form of chronic hepatitis infection in the United States. About 3.9 million people nationwide have the disease, which can lead to liver inflammation, cirrhosis, cancer and death.

Pending FDA approval, ICN will conduct two initial studies, the firm said in a press release. The first study will test the drug’s safety and tolerability in normal volunteers, while the second study will use hepatitis-C infected patients.

Based on the results of those studies, ICN will conduct another study to test the combination of levovirin and the antiviral drug interferon.

Panic last year agreed to split the company into three companies. The restructuring involves the initial public offering of shares in the company that owns rights to ribavirin and the subsequent spinoff of that company.

ICN’s stock moved up 87 cents a share to $26.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires were used in compiling this report.