HEALTH CARE
ICN Investment: Viratek Inc., a subsidiary of Costa Mesa-based drug giant ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., is starting off the new year with a promise to shareholders that it will get more buck for its bang.
The research and development company Monday said that it has sent a letter to shareholders, telling them that it is sinking some $6 million into 26 separate clinical trials, including tests to find cures for several types of cancer, bronchitis and several strains of hepatitis.
The company hopes to parlay that investment into millions more as new drugs or new ways to use drugs already on the market eventually find their way into pharmacies, hospitals and clinics.
The most notable test this year will be the final phase of trials to eventually receive approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Virazole as a treatment for debilitating hepatitis C in the United States.
The drug is currently sold in 47 countries, including the United States, eastern and western Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America for various uses.
It is primarily used by U.S. doctors to fight RSV, a form of pneumonia that can be fatal to infants. It is also being used under a special FDA guideline to treat hantavirus, the often-deadly, rodent-borne disease that struck the Southwest last year, killing at least 27 people.
