ImClone Back in Compliance with Nasdaq

ImClone Systems Inc., the biotechnology company at the center of an insider-trading scandal involving Martha Stewart, said it is back in compliance with rules governing Nasdaq Stock Market listings.

Nasdaq officials had considered removing the stock from the exchange after New York-based ImClone fell behind in filing financial reports with U.S. regulators. The company has caught up, and will regain its original stock symbol, IMCL.

The ruling removes one more obstacle for ImClone as investors turn their attention increasingly to Erbitux, ImClone’s experimental colon-cancer drug. ImClone has been trying to revive Erbitux since regulators rejected it in December 2001. ImClone founder Samuel Waksal resigned last year as chief executive and was sentenced last month to more than seven years in prison for insider trading. Stewart, former CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., faces trial next year on charges stemming from her sale of ImClone shares.

ImClone has continued to trade on Nasdaq, where it rose $1.53 to $35.30 on Wednesday.