company pharmaceutical industry founded 1984 number of employees 1 128 parent eli lilly and company website www.imclone.com imclone systems incorporated is a formerly independent biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing biologic medicines in the area of oncology . 1 it was founded in 1984 and has its corporate headquarters in bridgewater new jersey and its research headquarters in new york city . 1 on october 6 2008 it accepted a 6.5 billion acquisition offer from eli lilly and company and became a fully owned subsidiary of eli lilly and company on november 24 2008 . prior to the acquisition it was traded on the nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol imcl . in 2014 the use of the imclone brand name was retired and the former imclone research and manufacturing sites were renamed eli lilly and company . 2 contents 1 insider trading scandal 2 compassionate use controversy 3 carl icahn acquisition 4 yeda aventis imclone patent dispute 5 takeover offer from bristol myers squibb and subsequent bidding showdown 6 see also 7 references 8 external links 8.1 articles 8.2 fda 8.3 data insider trading scandal edit main article imclone stock trading case imclone s stock price dropped sharply at the end of 2001 when its drug erbitux an experimental monoclonal antibody failed to get the expected food and drug administration fda approval . it was later revealed by the u.s. securities and exchange commission that numerous executives sold their stock before the announcement of the decision after the close of trading on december 28 . its founder samuel d. waksal was arrested in 2002 on insider trading charges for informing friends and family to sell their stock and attempting to sell his own . his daughter aliza waksal sold 2.5 million in shares on december 27 . his father jack waksal sold 8.1 million in shares over the 27th and 28th . company executives had done the same . john b. landes the general counsel sold 2.5 million in shares on december 6 . ronald a. martell the vice president for marketing and sales sold 2.1 million in shares on december 11 . four other executives sold shares in the following weeks as well . later samuel waksal pleaded guilty to various charges including securities fraud and on june 10 2003 was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison . martha stewart the founder of martha stewart living omnimedia waksal had dated stewart s daughter also became embroiled in the scandal after it emerged that she sold about 230 000 in imclone shares on december 27 just a day before the announcement of fda decision . although stewart maintained her innocence she was found guilty and sentenced on july 16 2004 to five months in prison five months of home confinement and two years probation for lying about a stock sale conspiracy and obstruction of justice . ultimately a new clinical trial and fda filing prepared by imclone s partner merck kgaa german merck not to be confused with the us company of similar name resulted in an fda approval of erbitux in 2004 for use in colon cancer . a congressional hearing on improprieties at imclone held in october 2002 unveiled a culture of corruption dating back to 1986 . this was the year that imclone ceo waksal first forged the signature of the company s general counsel john landes one of the three original employees of the company for financial gain . nonetheless landes defended waksal s illegal actions at the hearings before the subcommittee on oversight and investigations portraying the forgery as a good faith misunderstanding to which representative james greenwood replied my children know better than that mr. landes . further questioning about this and subsequent forgeries on waksal s part revealed that neither landes the chief legal officer of the company or the company s outside directors reported waksal s actions to proper authorities or made any moves to have waksal removed as ceo . instead testimony revealed that they initiated their own internal investigation which was never concluded . the decades long tolerance for waksal s fraud starting from the company s earliest days provoked representative peter deutsch to refer to the ongoing misconduct as wacky . the fda s february 2004 announcement of approval for use of erbitux for treatment of colorectal cancer reported that conclusions were drawn from a trial involving 329 patients of which 10.8 % responded when erbitux was used by itself delaying tumor growth by 1.5 months . when used in conjunction with a standard chemotherapy treatment irinotecan 22.9 % of patients responded and tumor growth was delayed by approximately 4.1 months . in september 2001 bristol myers squibb committed 2 billion including a 1 billion up front cash payment for less than 20 % of imclone due to what was called at the time the drug s blockbuster potential . in january 2006 the company was put up for sale but failed to find any buyers likely due to the fact that erbitux by that time faced significant competition in the medical marketplace . imclone directors withdrew the sale of the company in mid 2006 . in april 2007 the wall street journal reported that bristol myers squibb co. and imclone systems inc. said their cancer drug erbitux failed to significantly prolong the lives of people with pancreatic cancer in a new study marking yet another setback in the drug industry s efforts to find a better treatment for this deadly disease . compassionate use controversy edit the fda approved the aforementioned colorectal cancer drug erbitux on february 12 2004 . in may 2001 while imclone was still seeking approval for the drug then known as imc c225 the cbs news program 60 minutes aired a story about two cancer patients struggles to obtain compassionate use of the drug . one ultimately succeeded ; the other failed despite repeated pleas to imclone officials . it was alleged in the story that imclone was arbitrary in who received the drug and had no written criteria for compassionate use . 3 4 5 6 carl icahn acquisition edit on october 25 2006 a group led by billionaire investor carl icahn acquired a majority of stock thereby giving him control of the board . within hours of the announcement interim ceo joseph fischer resigned and icahn announced that other members of the board of directors would not be re elected . yeda aventis imclone patent dispute edit yeda research and development a company set up to commercialize and market the products of research at the weizmann institute of science in israel 7 challenged the aventis owned patent licensed by imclone for the use of anti epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies in combination with chemotherapy to slow the growth of certain tumors . this is the so called 866 patent 8 9 which was filed in 1989 by rhone poulenc rorer issued in 2001 and on which joseph schlessinger was listed as first named inventor . 10 joseph schlessinger s former colleagues at the weizmann institute in particular michael sela claimed to have come up with this concept alongside schlessinger when they worked together there years earlier 11 and yeda challenged the aventis patent in the united states . schlessinger testified in court that the idea of combining the anti egfr antibody that his lab had developed with chemotherapy in cancer treatment was his own idea . however the weizmann institute scientists provided extensive documentation that they had been developing this idea using an antibody against that schlessinger s laboratory had developed and generated and that he had given them for these studies . 10 12 schlessinger claims to have initiated the idea of this use in combination therapy but had not documented his research and ideas as thoroughly leaving him forced to rely on his recollections of the events that led to the patent filing some 17 years before yeda mounted their challenge . 10 the court ruled that yeda are the sole owners of the disputed patent in the u.s. while yeda and sanofi aventis co own the 866 patent s foreign counterparts . following the ruling imclone and sanofi aventis agreed to settle the dispute with yeda for 120 million with each company paying yeda 60 million . 13 14 in return imclone were also granted a worldwide license to technology covered by the 866 patent and agreed to pay a small royalty on erbitux sales to yeda . takeover offer from bristol myers squibb and subsequent bidding showdown edit on july 31 2008 bristol myers squibb offered to take over imclone for 60 a share cash . the offer was made by letter addressed to imclone s chairman of the board carl icahn . on september 10 2008 an undisclosed company and ceo offered to take over imclone for 70 a share financing approach was not disclosed . the offer was conditional on the results of a due diligence review of imclone s business and technology by the undisclosed party to be completed september 28 2008 . on september 23 2008 bristol myers squibb upped its offer to take over imclone to 62 a share . in addition bristol threatened to take the offer to the share holders for a proxy battle with the intention of replacing the current board of directors headed by carl icahn . on october 6 2008 imclone agreed to be acquired by eli lilly for 6.5 billion 70 share . on november 24 2008 imclone was formally acquired by eli lilly with all nasdaq imcl shares tendered for 6.5 billion 70 share . imclone is now a fully owned subsidiary of eli lilly and company . in 2014 a drug developed by imclone tumor angiogenesis inhibitor cyramza was approved by the fda for gastric cancer . 15 lilly acquired the drug through its purchase of imclone . 16 see also edit imclone stock trading case accounting scandals corporate abuse references edit a b imclone systems corporation . company insight center . bloomberg businessweek . snapshot . archived from the original on 2009 05 18 . retrieved 2013 12 25 . new york lilly oncology . r & d locations eli lilly and company . eli lilly and company . retrieved 13 november 2014 . statement by robert temple m.d. associate director for center for drug evaluation and research food and drug administration before the committee on government reform u.s. house of representatives . u.s. food and drug administration . june 20 2001 . archived from the original on august 20 2001 . controversial compassionate use . 60 minutes . cbs . may 3 2001 . archived from the original on 2013 12 26 . retrieved december 25 2013 . levine jeff june 20 2001 . dying patients find experimental drugs hard to get . webmd news archive . webmd . archived from the original on 2013 12 26 . retrieved december 25 2013 . foreman judy september 23 2003 . for some untested drug is a last chance . . the boston globe . archived from the original on 2012 10 05 . retrieved december 25 2013 . technology transfer israel yedarnd . retrieved december 25 2013 . us patent 6 217 866 monoclonal antibodies specific to human epidermal growth factor receptor and therapeutic methods employing same . us 6217866 monoclonal antibodies specific to human epidermal growth factor receptor and therapeutic methods employing same . a b c imclone goes up against patent dispute . usa today . 2006 09 14 . aboud pirak e hurwitz e pirak me bellot f schlessinger j sela m dec 21 1988 . efficacy of antibodies to epidermal growth factor receptor against kb carcinoma in vitro and in nude mice . j natl cancer inst . 80 20 1605 11 . doi 10.1093 jnci 80.20.1605 . pmid 3193478 . court ruling on yeda vs aventis imclone case imclone settles drug patent dispute . the scientist . 11 dec 2007 . archived from the original on