Igen International Inc. said yesterday that it has settled its lawsuit against Hitachi Ltd., disposing of an aspect of its larger dispute with Roche Diagnostics that has resulted in a $505 million judgment for Igen.
Separately, Igen Chief Financial Officer George V. Migausky said Igen, of Gaithersburg, and Roche continue to have periodic discussions about how to settle the larger case, which Roche is appealing. The most recent discussions, he said, took place within the past month.
The January award by a U.S. District Court jury in Greenbelt, widely interpreted as vital to Igen's future, has been stayed pending the appeal.
"We can't really characterize it," Migausky said when asked how close the two sides are to a settlement. But, he said, Igen would "look at any reasonable way to settle it, and whatever provides the most value to shareholders ... that's the way we'd go."
Those options could include a sale of Igen to Roche, he said. The company has disclosed that it retained the Lehman Bros. investment banking firm to explore options.
Igen, which makes a key technology used in certain Roche medical diagnostics machines, did not disclose the terms of the settlement with Hitachi, a manufacturer of the Roche machines.
However, Migausky said the settlement did not involve court costs or other payments from Hitachi to Igen. He declined to comment further, noting a confidentiality agreement.
The suit alleged that Hitachi's manufacturing of Roche's Elecsys 2010 medical diagnostic machine - which contains Igen technology - is beyond the scope of the license that Igen granted to Roche.
Chesapeake Securities Research Corp. analyst Dennis Roth described the Hitachi case as "minor."
The large award was made after Igen persuaded a jury that Roche had breached the terms of its license with Igen, including failure to keep accurate records needed to calculate royalties owed to Igen. In addition to gaining the money, Igen will have the right to terminate Roche's license to use its technology if the jury's award is upheld on appeal.
Shares of Igen lost 5 cents yesterday to close at $34.66 on the Nasdaq stock market.