ICN Stock Hits Record High Closing Price

Stock of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose $3.13 a share Thursday to an all-time closing high of $49.25 as the Costa Mesa pharmaceutical company posted record quarterly results.

Profits jumped 52% to $34 million, or 47 cents a share, while sales increased 51% to $240 million.

“This is a very big day for us,” ICN Chairman Milan Panic said.

But in an interview, Panic emphasized that the shares remain undervalued compared with those of other drug makers. He also said that the company may become an acquisition target, especially if it is allowed to expand the uses of its drug ribavirin.

On Monday, an advisory committee to the federal Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to recommend ribavirin as a therapy for hepatitis C in combination with another drug by ICN’s giant partner, Schering-Plough. If the committee approves the combination, ICN expects an FDA decision by early summer.

That approval could give ICN a big boost in royalty income from Schering-Plough.

But Panic, admonished in the past for over-hyping ribavirin, refrained Thursday from predicting whether the drug will pass muster this time. It is approved domestically as a treatment for infants with severe respiratory virus disease.

In late 1994, Panic sold 55,000 shares of ICN stock after learning that the agency wouldn’t approve the drug as a stand-alone treatment for hepatitis C. Panic is under investigation by federal prosecutors for alleged securities violations in connection with the stock sale.

Securities and Exchange Commission staff members have recommended Panic be banned from serving as an ICN executive and director and be fined as much as $1 million. Panic has denied any improprieties.

He insisted Thursday that these issues don’t affect the company’s stock price. Though investors have suggested the company initiate a retirement policy for directors at age 70, Panic, who is 68, said such a policy would amount to age discrimination and he would oppose it.

Panic spends most of his time nowadays overseeing the company’s expansion in Eastern Europe, but he said the company also plans to step up its effort to sell drugs and other products in its toughest market, the U.S.

Over the next two years, he said, the company will boost its domestic work force by about 500 jobs to 2,000, mostly by adding sales and marketing personnel. About 150 jobs will be added at the company’s Costa Mesa operations, which employ about 400.

Panic noted that while the company predicted a month ago that it would incur a second-quarter charge of as much as $27 million in connection with a devaluation of Yugoslavia’s currency, the company now estimates the impact will be minimal.