Igen

Shares of Igen International Inc., the Gaithersburg-based maker of blood-testing equipment, rose yesterday after the company announced that it had made progress in recent settlement talks with Roche Diagnostics in a dispute over a licensing agreement. At one point yesterday, Igen shares were up slightly more than 17 percent after the company expressed confidence that it might eventually reach an agreement with Roche to settle the long-standing dispute. Igen shares settled back in afternoon trading before closing at $30.25, up $1.25, or 4 percent.

Roche Diagnostics should pay more than $1 billion in damages to Igen International Inc., a company Roche sought to "damage and destroy" through breach of contract, an Igen lawyer told jurors yesterday in closing arguments in the nearly 5-year- old case. As Igen Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Samuel J. Wohlstadter, members of his family and about 70 others looked on in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Igen lawyer Brent Gurney spent more than two hours arguing that the jury in the civil case should award $709.

Igen International Inc.'s stock rose nearly 10.6 percent to a 52-week high of $42.15 yesterday, the day after the Gaithersburg company won a $505 million judgment against Roche Diagnostics GmbH. A federal jury in Greenbelt found Thursday that Roche Diagnostics broke a 1992 contract by underpaying royalties to Igen and by selling Igen's patented diagnostic test to markets not included in the agreement. Roche, the world's largest diagnostic testing company, plans to appeal the $505 million award to Igen, which had sales of $31.4 million in fiscal year 2001.

LONDON - Roche Holdings AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, said yesterday that it had agreed to buy Igen International Inc. of Gaithersburg for $1.26 billion - and then give nearly the whole company right back to Igen's shareholders. Roche would come away from the deal with one major benefit: a perpetual license to use Igen's patented amino acid-based technology in its diagnostic tests without paying royalties. Roche already has about $370 million in annual revenue from products based on the technology.

For the past month, the shares of tiny, money-losing Igen International Inc. have traded at a daily average near $40, making them more valuable than the shares of many far larger companies - including international pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG. Even so, some analysts believe, buying a slice of the Gaithersburg-based maker of medical diagnostics should cost even more: $79, $80, even $100 a share. Why? Because its recent court victory has put Igen in a position to get far more out of Roche Diagnostics than the $505 million in damages awarded by the jury.

Igen International Inc., a Gaithersburg maker of biological detection systems, said yesterday that it will sell 211,900 shares of common stock for $3 million to an investment fund as part of an equity agreement that will help finance its corporate activities. Under the agreement, Acqua Wellington North American Equities Fund Ltd. will acquire with the Igen shares a stake of about 1 percent. Potentially, Igen could sell up to $60 million in stock to the investment fund over the next 28 months.

Igen International Inc. said yesterday that its fiscal third-quarter loss narrowed as revenue grew and litigation costs were offset by a payment from its rival in a breach-of-contract suit, Roche Diagnostics. Based in Gaithersburg, the maker of diagnostic tests said it lost $9.2 million, or 48 cents per share, on revenue of $10.4 million. That compares with a loss of $16 millon, or $1.04 per share, on revenue of $8.5 million in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2000. The company said the 23 percent increase in quarterly revenue was due to increases in royalty income, product sales and contract revenue.

Roche Diagnostics has agreed to turn over its 60 U.S. physician office customers to Igen International Inc., a move that will potentially increase Igen's revenues by $2 million annually. The agreement, announced yesterday, sent the stock of Gaithersburg-based Igen up $1.625, to $16.875 per share. Roche agreed to transfer the customers to comply with a 1998 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in Maryland, Igen said. The move is part of a larger, ongoing legal battle between the two companies over customers and royalties.

Talk about a high-flying stock. Igen International Inc., a relatively unknown Gaithersburg biotechnology firm, has seen its share price zoom an astonishing 742 percent since April.Yesterday, shares jumped $4.5625 to an all-time high of $40 -- more than eight times its 52-week low of $4.75 of April 24. The fastest run-up in the company's stock price has occurred since Christmas, when shares traded at $12.75.Propelling the ascent is a recently signed deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and a thumbs-up from two investment funds tied to investment guru George Soros.

Igen International Inc. shares continued to rise yesterday, closing at a six-month high of $36.73 on speculation that the Gaithersburg company will win a favorable court settlement in its contract dispute with Roche Diagnostics. Shares rose $1.30 yesterday, nearly 4 percent, on the Nasdaq stock market. The gain caps a surge of more than 26 percent since Oct. 25, when the trial of Igen's suit against Roche began in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. In five months, shares have gained 75 percent from a low of $20.97 on June 18. "From what we can tell, the trial is going very well in Igen's favor," said John M. Putnam of Gruntal & Co. "We don't think Roche will have much to present in its defense."