Business briefs for February 27, 2002

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

Kitty litter mine rejected

RENO -- County commissioners have denied the world's largest producer of cat litter permission to mine and process clay on the outskirts of town, a move applauded by environmentalists and an Indian tribe.

The Washoe County Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday to reject plans by the Oil-Dri Corp. to build a processing plant beside a clay mine near the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. Clay is a chief ingredient in cat litter.

Critics said the project would pollute the air and water, clog residential streets in the area with truck traffic and ruin the area's rustic qualities.

Company officials had said the project would produce about 100 jobs and generate $12 million annually for the local economy. Chicago-based Oil-Dri sells cat litter under a variety of brand names, including Cat's Pride.

Unocal buys LV firm's purchasing system

Unocal Corp. announced Tuesday it plans to use PurchasePro.com Inc.'s e-Source technology as its global reverse auction platform.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A reverse auction is a method of driving procurement costs down for companies. In the process, suppliers bid against one another to offer lower prices for products and services.

Las Vegas-based Internet company PurchasePro said that Unocal has used its system for reverse auctions in North America, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines since the initial implementation of the system in July.

Unocal has conducted reverse auctions on commodities including marine gas oil and high-speed diesel oil, technology products such as video conferencing systems and computer equipment, and engineered equipment such as injection pump systems.

Since PurchasePro began reporting monthly e-Source results in July, the company said, 1,205 auctions have been conducted. They involved $691 million in high bids and $502 million in low bids, generating an implied savings of $189 million for companies worldwide.

Unocal is an independent natural gas and crude oil exploration and production company based in El Segundo, Calif.

ImClone may use European data

NEW YORK -- Biotech company ImClone Systems Inc. said today the Food and Drug Administration may allow it to use data from a European trial to shore up its previously rejected effort to gain approval of Erbitux, a promising colorectal cancer drug.

ImClone met with FDA officials Tuesday and said today it will have further discussions with the agency about using a study being conducted by Germany's Merck KGaA as part of its application. Merck owns the European rights to Erbitux.

Shares of ImClone surged nearly 42 percent on the news.

There was no immediate indication when a final decision about the application will be reached. ImClone representatives did not immediately return calls seeking additional comment.

Tuesday's meeting was the first time the troubled biotech company had met with the regulatory agency since the FDA rejected ImClone's application to review Erbitux last December. The FDA said the application was missing critical data.