ImClone Rejects Erbitux Demands

ImClone Systems Inc. on Tuesday rejected partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s demands to remove top executives and hand over control of their stalled cancer drug, Erbitux.

Bristol-Myers is considering legal and business options and will decide after a meeting with regulators Feb. 26, Chief Executive Peter Dolan told ImClone in a letter. Earlier, Bristol-Myers, the largest maker of cancer drugs, threatened to walk away from their partnership if ImClone rejected its terms.

The partners are fighting over potential profit from Erbitux and which should lead the effort to get the drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The agency, which refused to consider Erbitux in December, will outline at the Feb. 26 meeting what steps ImClone must take to get the drug accepted for review.

“The FDA meeting may clarify a lot of things, such as the cost and the time it will require to go ahead with the drug,” said Jordan Schreiber, manager of the Merrill Lynch Healthcare Fund.

ImClone sees no need to renegotiate the agreement, ImClone Chairman Robert Goldhammer said in a letter to Dolan after a meeting of ImClone directors Monday.

Goldhammer’s letter invited Dolan to meet with ImClone’s senior management “to explore ways in which the company ... can work most effectively to obtain FDA approval” of Erbitux.

That suggested to some analysts the door may still be open for negotiations.

ImClone shares rose 82 cents to $17.65 on Nasdaq. Bristol-Myers rose 21 cents to $45.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.