Panic Returns to Helm of ICN Pharmaceuticals : Absence: Company’s founder served as prime minister of embattled Yugoslavia, his native country, during leave.

COSTA MESA —  ICN Pharmaceuticals said Thursday that Milan Panic has returned to the helm of the international drug concern he founded. He left less than year ago to try to lift his native Yugoslavia from the surrounding Balkan chaos and war.

Panic was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment about his return. ICN Vice President Jack Sholl said Panic will resume his normal duties after an indefinite leave of absence. “He will be available sometime soon” for interviews, Sholl promised.

“I am looking forward to taking up the new challenges, again, of implementing the company’s plan for expansion into new markets and continuing to develop new opportunities,” Panic was quoted as saying in a company statement.

His departure last year, leading up to his appointment as Yugoslavia’s prime minister in July, did not directly affect the company, Sholl said.

As chairman and founder, Panic has responsibility for the long-range strategy of ICN, not the day-to-day responsibilities. “We have a good, professional management team in place,” Sholl explained. “In his absence, the management has been implementing these strategies.”

That strategy has been increasingly global. ICN’s SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. subsidiary has been expanding into Eastern European markets. It also announced an agreement last year to buy into Russia’s oldest drug firm. SPI was also supplying about half of the medicines and other pharmaceuticals to the Yugoslav republics.

Panic left Belgrade 40 years ago. He returned last summer with hopes of leading the once prosperous republic back from civil strife. But he clashed with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who defeated him last December in elections marked by allegations of fraud. The Serbian Parliament later gave Panic a no-confidence vote.