InterPharm Laboratories Inc. and parent company Ares-Serono S.A.resolved their dispute with Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS)regarding a warning letter sent by the OCS about InterPharm's sale of arecombinant beta interferon cell bank.The letter to Israeli-based InterPharm said the OCS would take action ifInterPharm did not reacquire the cell bank it sold to the Swisspharmaceutical manufacturer, which was protested in a lawsuit by agroup of InterPharm shareholders. The OCS said it had to give writtenpermission before know-how could be transferred between thecompanies.In a meeting on Sunday, Ares-Serono said its intention is that therecombinant beta interferon sold by its group of companies will besubmitted to health authorities under a unified registration, to the extentallowable. InterPharm will be one of the main manufacturing sites,Ares-Serono said. The Swiss company said the chief scientistconfirmed his approval that the beta interferon also would bemanufactured outside Israel."The issue has now been satisfactorily resolved," Christophe Lamps,director of corporate communications for Ares-Serono, told BioWorld."Now we have to work out the details."Ares-Serono owns about 76 percent of InterPharm. A $33 milliontender offer for the approximately 1.48 million shares it doesn't own, at$22 per share, will close as scheduled on June 10, Ares-Serono said. _Jim Shrine

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