Corante

About this Author
Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe, an Arkansan by birth, got his BA from Hendrix College and his PhD in organic chemistry from Duke before spending time in Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship on his post-doc. He's worked for several major pharmaceutical companies since 1989 on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases. To contact Derek email him directly: derekb.lowe@gmail.com Twitter: Dereklowe

Chemistry and Pharma Blogs:
The Science Business
Org Prep Daily
Kilomentor
On Pharma
Kinase Pro
Chemical Quantum Images
The LouRoe
One in Ten Thousand
Periodic Tabloid
Chemical Musings
C&E News Blog
Chemiotics II
Noel O'Blog
In Vivo Blog
Chirality
BBSRC/Douglas Kell
Drug Discovery Opinion
The Chemblog
Realizations in Biostatistics
Heterocyclic Chemistry Blog
Molecule of the Day
Chemjobber
WSJ Health Blog
PK/PD
Social Detritus
ChemSpider Blog
Node in the Noosphere
Pharmagossip
Organometallic Current
Useful Chemistry
Great Molecular Crapshoot
No Name No Slogan
Post Doc Ergo Propter Doc
SimBioSys
Culture of Chemistry
The Curious Wavefunction
Chemical Sabbatical
Totally Synthetic
Molecular Philosophy
Zusammen
Pharma's Cutting Edge
My Chemical Journey
The F- Blog
Chemical Professionals
Generally Chemistry
Chemistry World Blog
Eigenfunction/Eigenvalue
Synthesizing Ideas
Carbon-Based Curiosities
Business|Bytes|Genes|Molecules
Eye on FDA
Sigma-Aldrich ChemBlogs
Peter Murray-Rust
Chemical Forums
Depth-First
Curly Arrow
ChemCafe
Power of Goo
Fetz the Chemist
Carbon Tet
Chemical Crosspatch
Sceptical Chymist
Atomchuxky
Lamentations on Chemistry
Computational Organic Chemistry
Mining Drugs
Henry Rzepa
Making Graphite Work
Realm of Organic Synthesis
Liquid Carbon
Pharma Blog Review


Science Blogs and News:
The Loom
Uncertain Principles
Fierce Biotech
Blogs for Industry
Omics! Omics!
Young Female Scientist
Notional Slurry
Life of a Lab Rat
Nobel Intent
SciTech Daily
Is This Thing On?
Science Blog
Eastern Blot
FuturePundit
Flags and Lollipops
Aetiology
Gene Expression (I)
Gene Expression (II)
Sciencebase
Pharyngula
Adventures in Ethics and Science
Terra Sigillata
Transterrestrial Musings
Slashdot Science
A Scientist's Life
Living the Scientific Life
Humans in Science
Speculist
Science, Shrimp and Grits
Cosmic Variance
The Capsule
Zeroth Order Approximation
Science Library Blog
Biology News Net


Medical Blogs
Med Tech Sentinel
DB's Medical Rants
Science-Based Medicine
GruntDoc
The Health Care Blog
Respectful Insolence
Black Triangle
Diabetes Mine


Economics and Business
Marginal Revolution
Arnold Kling
The Volokh Conspiracy
Knowledge Problem
The Stalwart


Politics / Current Events
Virginia Postrel
Tinkerty Tonk
Instapundit
Megan McArdle
Mickey Kaus
Colby Cosh
Alien Corn
No Watermelons


Belles Lettres
Two Blowhards
Critical Mass
Arts and Letters Daily
God of the Machine
Armavirumque
About Last Night
In the Pipeline: Don't miss Derek Lowe's excellent commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry in general at In the Pipeline

In the Pipeline

« Day Off | Main | Nobel Season 2008 »

October 6, 2008

Imclone Really Does Get Bought

Email This Entry

Posted by Derek

Well, it looks as if I'll finally be able to stop talking about Imclone: the word came out this morning that they've agreed to a $70/share deal with Lilly. Some thoughts on this:

1. I would still like to know how the uncertainty around the Erbitux follow-up antibody is supposed to be resolved. It's hard for me to make sense of this for Lilly unless they think that they can get substantial revenue from it, and Bristol-Myers Squibb presumably will disagree with their projected figures. None of the news stories so far have addressed this issue, and I presume that it's going to be a matter for negotiations (or for the courts, if it comes to that).

2. It seems that some analysts are seeing this deal as a sign of weakness in Lilly's pipeline, perhaps signaling that Effient (prasugrel) might be delayed more or labeled so restrictively that it has no chance of living up to expectations. We'll see how Lilly's stock performs today, and read the mood of its investors.

3. Well, Carl Icahn really did have something up his sleeve. Considering what Imclone was trading at before all this, he has plenty of reasons to be happy. But now will he turn his attention to Biogen again, and try to do the same thing with (or to) them?

4. I stand corrected! I had trouble believing that someone would come in at this price under these conditions, but, well, here they are. I should keep in mind that a fair number of mergers and acquisitions in this industry seem problematic (or downright senseless) to me, and adjust accordingly.

Comments (6) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business and Markets


COMMENTS

1. Hap on October 6, 2008 10:11 AM writes...

Wow. I hope that this is a case of "I don't know nearly as much about pharmaceutical management than I think/the people at Lilly know lots I don't" than "this deal is designed to enrich lawyers and management".

Permalink to Comment

2. HelicalZz on October 6, 2008 1:49 PM writes...

I hope I never never ever find myself at a poker table across from Carl Icahn (not that there is any real danger of that happening).

Zz

Permalink to Comment

3. Sili on October 6, 2008 3:02 PM writes...

I take it this is today's happy news from the market.

Permalink to Comment

4. Hap on October 6, 2008 3:53 PM writes...

If I were Mr. Icahn (though my ability to do that is unlikely as in 1, above), I would ask for cash upfront to avoid Huntsman's situation.

Oh, and if this is the happy news, I think I need to consider short-term investments in alcohol and generic antidepressant suppliers. Irrational exuberance doesn't even appear to cover it.

Permalink to Comment

5. Anonymous on October 6, 2008 4:45 PM writes...

Could this be a tax strategy, at least in part? Take a tax-break from shelling out for ImClone now while you have the Zyprexa revenue, and trade that current profit for future revenue from ImClone? Do I just not understand any of this?

Permalink to Comment

6. Indy on October 7, 2008 8:55 AM writes...

As I posted previously,

I wonder how solid this move/deal is since BMS is claiming ownership on the next generation of Erbitux: IMC-11F8.

See

http://seekingalpha.com/article/95269-ownership-of-erbitux-follow-on-is-central-to-imclone-takeover

All lawyers involved are going to have a field trip here as motions/litigations must be in the works as we speak!

Any thoughts?

Permalink to Comment

POST A COMMENT




Remember Me?



EMAIL THIS ENTRY TO A FRIEND

Email this entry to:

Your email address:

Message (optional):




RELATED ENTRIES
175 Times. And Then the Catastrophe.
The Drug Business: A Turbulent Future?
Real Electrons
Lilly Shrinks
Industrial Research: More Grounded in Reality, or Not?
Abstract Abstracts
Norman Borlaug
Antioxidants and Cancer: Backwards?