Elan shares rise on settlement of dispute

Elan shares have risen dramatically, from $4.2 to $ 5.9 over the last week.

Elan has settled its dispute with US pharmaceutical company King which has now agreed to pay around $750m (€634m) to Elan for the US rights to two of Elan's drugs.

Elan has the right to receive further payments if the drugs sales reach agreed targets. The deal should make a great difference to Elan which is presently suffering from a cash crisis.

A deal had been agreed between the companies but King had pulled out when US regulators said they were investigating Elan. However, this investigation has now been dropped.

Elan shares also received a boost from a report in the journal Neuron which supports its experimental Alzheimer vaccine AN-1792.