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Biotech / Medical : IGEN International -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IndioBlues who wrote (526)	4/7/2000 1:19:00 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Respond to of 1025

CHICAGO, April 5 (Reuters) - Gruntal & Co. on Wednesday repeated its outperform rating on biotechnology firm IGEN International Inc. after a U.S. District Court upheld a previous court ruling that Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche Holdings must transfer 80 to 100 physician laboratory customers to IGEN. -- In a research note, the brokerage said, "The benefits to IGEN of this ruling go beyond the approximately $10 million in incremental annual revenues that IGEN could generate from these customers. This is yet another ruling in IGEN's favor and confirms our belief that IGEN will prevail in this litigation and will receive some form of substantial remuneration from Roche." -- Gruntal also reiterated its share price targets of $43 in the intermediate term and $68 in the long term. -- Shares were trading off 3/8 at 22-15/16 on Wednesday. ((Chicago Equities News at 312 408 8787, chicago.equities.newsroom@reuters.com))

To: IndioBlues who wrote (526)	4/7/2000 1:29:00 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Respond to of 1025

Court Clears Way for Roche to Transfer U.S. Physician Labs to IGEN Judge Sets April 14 Deadline for Completion of Written Agreement GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- IGEN International, Inc, a leading innovator in the field of biological detection, announced today that the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland has resolved certain outstanding issues pertaining to its earlier ruling that Roche Diagnostics must transfer to IGEN all its estimated 80 to 100 physician office laboratory (POL) customers in the United States. During a hearing yesterday, the court also instructed the parties to complete a written agreement detailing the terms of the transfer by April 14. The hearing was requested by IGEN to require that Roche comply with a preliminary injunction issued by the District Court in 1998. The preliminary injunction enjoined Roche from marketing diagnostic systems based on IGEN's ORIGEN(R) technology to POLs and required Roche to transfer existing POL customers to IGEN and escrow all POL revenues pending the final outcome of the litigation. Roche asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to overturn the injunction, but in December 1999 the Court of Appeals upheld the District Court's ruling. "We are pleased with the court's ruling," said Samuel J. Wohlstadter, IGEN's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to quickly completing the process of transferring these customers so that we can begin serving this important market." The preliminary injunction arose out of a lawsuit filed by IGEN against Roche claiming multiple breaches of a license agreement between the two companies. Under the terms of that agreement, IGEN granted Roche Diagnostics, a unit of F. Hoffman La Roche, rights to develop and commercialize diagnostic systems based on ORIGEN technology for use in centralized hospital laboratories, clinical reference laboratories and blood banks. IGEN retained the rights to commercialize its technology in all other markets, including POLs. The suit includes charges that Roche underreported royalties owed to IGEN and sold diagnostic systems outside the licensed field. IGEN believes that, in addition to the U.S. customers which were the subject of yesterday's hearing, an estimated 200 to 300 of Roche's customers in Germany fall within the scope of the preliminary injunction. The disposition of these other laboratories will be resolved during the course of the litigation. IGEN develops and markets products that incorporate its proprietary ORIGEN technology for detection and measurement of substances in biological samples. ORIGEN technology is being applied to drug discovery and development, clinical diagnostic testing, and food and environmental testing. It provides a unique combination of speed, sensitivity and flexibility for a wide range of tests on a single technology platform. Products using ORIGEN technology are marketed by IGEN and its licensees, Roche Diagnostics, Organon Teknika and Eisai Company. More information about IGEN can be found at igen.com.