Late in the afternoon of December 28, 2001, the fax machine at the SoHo offices of ImClone Systems, spit out a stunning announcement. Citing sloppy data and poor research design, the FDA had spiked the company's application to file for approval for its much-anticipated cancer drug, Erbitux. For the officers and employees of the hot young biotech firm, it was a very bad day -- and the start of two very bad years.
One month later, in January 2002, things got worse. …