ICN Will Reinvest Ribavirin Royalties

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that it plans to reinvest a large part of its royalties from a therapy for the chronic liver disease hepatitis C in its research and development program.

The Costa Mesa drug maker said in a press release that it will invest in a program to develop its existing library of nucleosides and nucleotides and in new initiatives. Nucleosides and nucleotides are subunits of DNA.

Schering-Plough Corp. has rights to market ICN’s oral ribavirin for hepatitis C. ICN expects royalties on the ribavirin in 1999 to exceed $100 million.

ICN will recruit new senior managers and scientists to lead the expansion of its research and development program, which focuses on anti-infectives, oncology, dermatology, the central nervous system and pain management.