Biotech drugmaker ImClone Systems Inc. said Tuesday that its chairman and another board member resigned, following weeks of squabbles between the company and billionaire financier Carl Icahn, who was seeking their ouster. ImClone shares rose nearly 4 percent.
ImClone said in a statement that Chairman David M. Kies and board member William W. Crouse resigned effective immediately. Company spokesman David Pitts said Kies cited "personal and other reasons" while Crouse didn't give a reason for his departure.
Icahn, Kies, and Crouse could not be reached for comment.
But a person close to the company who asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said the departures were not part of any deal with Icahn, who was seeking to remove half of ImClone's 12-member board, including Kies and Crouse.
Two weeks ago, Icahn, who owns about 14 percent of the company, filed a proxy statement to remove half the board because he said they have done a deplorable job running the company.
Last week, ImClone countered that investors should reject Icahn's proposal. Among the reasons cited was that Icahn blocked a $36 a share bid for ImClone from an unnamed pharmaceutical company.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA had offered to buy ImClone. A spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis said the company does not comment on market rumors.
ImClone, which makes the cancer drug Erbitux, put itself on up for sale in January, but took itself off the market in August, saying it did not receive an offer at a fair price.
The latest development in the struggle for ImClone's board comes as Friedman, Billings Ramsey analyst Jim Reddoch lowered his U.S. sales estimates on Erbitux for the second half of the year, citing slower growth. His third quarter estimate fell to $176 million from $190 million while his projection for the fourth quarter sank to $181 million from $204 million.
Reddoch said sales pressure is expected to grow when Amgen Co. introduces a competing product later this year. Indeed, analysts have said it is unlikely that ImClone would fetch $36 a share now because of increasing competition and a recent loss in a patent case over Erbitux.
Kies, a member of the board since 1996, was appointed chairman in February 2004. He is a partner of the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. Crouse, who became a board member in January 2004, is managing director and general partner of HealthCare Ventures LLC, one of the world's largest biotech venture capital firms.
Shares of ImClone rose $1.23, or 4 percent, to $31.13 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.
ImClone said in a statement that Chairman David M. Kies and board member William W. Crouse resigned effective immediately. Company spokesman David Pitts said Kies cited "personal and other reasons" while Crouse didn't give a reason for his departure.
Icahn, Kies, and Crouse could not be reached for comment.
But a person close to the company who asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said the departures were not part of any deal with Icahn, who was seeking to remove half of ImClone's 12-member board, including Kies and Crouse.
Two weeks ago, Icahn, who owns about 14 percent of the company, filed a proxy statement to remove half the board because he said they have done a deplorable job running the company.
Last week, ImClone countered that investors should reject Icahn's proposal. Among the reasons cited was that Icahn blocked a $36 a share bid for ImClone from an unnamed pharmaceutical company.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA had offered to buy ImClone. A spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis said the company does not comment on market rumors.
ImClone, which makes the cancer drug Erbitux, put itself on up for sale in January, but took itself off the market in August, saying it did not receive an offer at a fair price.
The latest development in the struggle for ImClone's board comes as Friedman, Billings Ramsey analyst Jim Reddoch lowered his U.S. sales estimates on Erbitux for the second half of the year, citing slower growth. His third quarter estimate fell to $176 million from $190 million while his projection for the fourth quarter sank to $181 million from $204 million.
Reddoch said sales pressure is expected to grow when Amgen Co. introduces a competing product later this year. Indeed, analysts have said it is unlikely that ImClone would fetch $36 a share now because of increasing competition and a recent loss in a patent case over Erbitux.
Kies, a member of the board since 1996, was appointed chairman in February 2004. He is a partner of the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. Crouse, who became a board member in January 2004, is managing director and general partner of HealthCare Ventures LLC, one of the world's largest biotech venture capital firms.
Shares of ImClone rose $1.23, or 4 percent, to $31.13 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.
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