I thought this was sort of interesting; I'm going to look at the trading
patterns on the exchange, but I'll be curious to see if this was a
corporate rival, disgruntled employee, or if one of the AIDS groups is
moving into direct action campaigns over the cost of the pharamaceuticals
in question. MW
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Canadian AIDS drugmaker Biochem hit by four bombs
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Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 Reuters
MONTREAL (November 25, 1997 9:35 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Four
bombs exploded on Tuesday at AIDS drugmaker BioChem Pharma Inc.'s plant
in Montreal and the company's headquarters. About 250 employees were
evacuated at the two sites, police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, which caused
no injuries and only minor damage.
Two packages exploded at mid-morning at a BioChem Pharma plant in the
north-end Montreal municipality of Ahuntsic, a police spokesman said.
About 45 employees were evacuated from the plant shortly after the first
explosion.
Police in Laval, a suburb just north of Montreal, said about 200 BioChem
employees were evacuated from the company's headquarters there before
two packages exploded outside the building.
Using a remote-controlled robotic unit, police destroyed two other
suspicious packages found outside the Laval headquarters.
Laval police Sgt. Andre St. Jacques told Reuters that BioChem Pharma
received an anonymous telephone call at its headquarters just before 10
a.m. EST warning of a bomb. The company promptly called Laval police,
who ordered the building evacuated.
Montreal police spokesman Christian Emond said there were no warning
telephone calls before the bombs exploded outside the Montreal plant.
"The BioChem facility was evacuated after the explosion," he said.
In a precautionary measure, a BioChem Pharma research facility in the
provincial capital of Quebec City 165 miles northeast of Montreal also
was evacuated.
BioChem Pharma said in a statement on Tuesday it did not know why the
company was the target of the attacks. Witnesses at the site of the
first bombing saw some damage to an aluminum garage door but no serious
damage.
"Fortunately, the incidents have occurred outside our installations and
we hope to resume our operations tomorrow," the company said.
Montreal and Laval police, aided by bomb experts from the provincial
police force Surete du Quebec were gathering evidence to determine the
type of explosive used.
Police said they had no suspects or possible motive for the bombings.
BioChem Pharma, a pharmaceutical firm in which London-based Glaxo
Wellcome Plc has a minority interest, is credited with discovering the
drug 3TC or Epivir, used in the treatment of HIV infection and AIDS in
combination with other drugs.
Trading in shares of BioChem Pharma was temporarily halted on Canadian
exchanges and Nasdaq after the explosions.
By ROBERT MELNBARDIS, Reuters
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