Drug approval highlight of tough week

During a week in which Costa Mesa drug developer Ribapharm Inc.

fought off a takeover bid and saw its second quarter income fall

sharply, a ray of light did enter their tunnel.

The federal Food and Drug Administration granted approval to

Rebetol, the oral form of Ribapharm’s ribavirin. The company holds

the licensing rights to the hepatitis C treatment.

On Thursday, Schering-Plough Corp., which sells the antiviral drug

as part of a marketing pact with Ribapharm, announced it had gained

approval to sell Rebetol as part of a drug cocktail used to treat

hepatitis C in children. The tablets are to be taken along with

interferon.

About 200,000 children in the U.S. are infected with the virus.

Ribapharm hasn’t had much time to celebrate. The company spent the

week fending off the latest takeover bid by majority owner ICN

Pharmaceuticals, which operates out of a Costa Mesa office off the

San Diego Freeway. ICN partially spun off the company in April 2002.

ICN said Wednesday it would extend its $5.60-per-share offer to

purchase outstanding shares until Friday. Ribapharm management,

however, has deemed the offer inadequate. ICN initially offered RNA

shares at $10 a share.

Citing slowing sales of ribavirin, Ribapharm said second-quarter

earnings fell from a year ago. The company logged $25.8 million, or

17 cents per share, in net income compared to $31.1 million, or 21 cents per share, a year ago. It announced earnings Thursday.

ICN fell 1.99% Friday to close at $15.30. RNA fell 2.48% to close

at $5.12.

TRADERS TAKE TECHNOLOGY FIRM DOWN, THEN UP, THEN DOWN

Shares of Acacia Research, a Newport Beach technology developer,

bounced back strong after the company’s earnings release on Tuesday

provoked a sell-off.

The Acacia’s second quarter results were met with an initially

rude reception on the Street. Acacia recorded a net loss of $6.77

million for the quarter. The stock, which briefly touched $2.50,

began a freefall that put it at $1.81 at the close of trading

Wednesday.

But the buyers rushed out of the gate Thursday, bidding ACTG up

more than 14% to close at $2.08 Thursday on heavy volume. More than

250,000 shares changed hands, almost double the average daily volume

of about 150,000. ACTG reached as high as $2.23, a move of more than

23%.

Acacia’s shares closed Friday at $1.90, plummeting 8.65%.

Acacia licenses V-Chip and DMT technologies. The latter is used in

video on-demand and audio on-demand systems.

AREA’S LARGEST COMPANY

GETS RATING CUT

Banc of America Securities cut its rating on Health Care Property

Investors Inc., Newport-Mesa’s largest public company.

The firm cut its rating on HCP shares on July 25 to “neutral” from

“buy.” In issuing its new rating, the firm cited concerns about

valuation.

The Newport Beach-based health care real estate investment trust

carries a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12. The average P/E ratio for

real estate operations, as measured on Yahoo! Finance, is 26.30. The

company is worth $2.67 billion.

A day earlier, the company announced it would pay a quarterly

dividend of 83 cents per share to investors who hold the stock on

Aug. 4. The dividend will be paid Aug. 20.

HCP closed Friday at $43.20, a 1.44% fall.