Immunomedics wins $1.5 million award

Immunomedics of Morris Plains, NJ, was awarded $1.5 million by an arbitration panel last month in relation to its dispute with Pharmacia & Upjohn. Immunomedics had charged Pharmacia with breach of contract after it terminated a sales and licensing agreement for U.S. and Canadian sales of its CEA-Scan monoclonal-antibody-based imaging agent (SCAN 9/11/96).

Pharmacia had gained rights to CEA-Scan when it acquired the parent company of Adria Laboratories, the original licensee, in 1993. Pharmacia in 1995 canceled the agreement, saying it was scaling back its oncology sales force. Although the $1.5 million is a welcome addition to Immunomedics' balance sheet, it is much lower than the $60 million in damages that the company requested. Mallinckrodt now has U.S. and Canadian rights to CEA-Scan.

In other Immunomedics news, the company reported that its Dutch subsidiary, Immunomedics Europe, has entered into a packaging and distribution agreement with Eli Lilly for its LeukoScan infectious imaging agent and other potential products. Eli Lilly will have European rights to the agent, which the European Union in February 1997 approved for imaging bone infection.