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Carl Ichan, the billionaire, activist investor notified Genzyme that he will seek shareholder approval to seat four handpicked directors including himself to be appointed to the company’s board of directors in an attempt to remove embattled Chairman and CEO Henri Termeer who has led the company for the past 25 years.

The move was widely anticipated by industry analysts because Icahn own one percent of outstanding shares of Genzyme’s stock.  Icahn and other large shareholders believe the company would be better off under new leadership. Termeer has publicly stated that he has no intention of resigning.

Until recently, Genzyme’s standing and reputation in the biopharmaceutical and orphan drug industry was second-to-none. However, the company’s inability to quickly correct ongoing manufacturing problems at its biomanufacturing facilities for the past year has been extremely embarrassing and costly. Sloppy manufacturing and quality control problems this past year led to major shortages of two main products, Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. Consequently, in 2009 sales revenues dropped and company earnings were almost flat. Further, Genzyme shares lost 26% of their value in 2009, sinking to a five-year low.

Icahn is no stranger to hostile corporate takeovers and company sales. In spring of 2008, he unsuccessfully tried to gain control of the Biogen/Idec board to force the sale of the company (Ichan owns 5.6% of Biogen/Idec’s outstanding shares). Later that year, Icahn engineered the sale of ImClone to Eli Lilly for $7.0 billion; after getting into a very public and often acrimonious fight with Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Jim Cornelius who tendered a “low-ball offer” (according to Icahn) to purchase ImClone.

According to my calculations, Icahn is batting .500 for his recent corporate takeover attempts. Do you think he will be able to go 2-for-3? I bet Henri Termeer is hoping that he can’t!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

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As many of you may recall, in 2001, Sam Waksal, founder and former CEO of the biotechnology company ImClone was convicted (along with his good friend Martha Stewart) for fraud and insider trading of ImClone stock. Waksal, who was released from prison in late 2008 and lived in a half way house for several months had kept a relatively low profile until earlier this month. Rumor has it that Sam along with Richard Mulligan, PhD a Harvard professor and former ImClone director and Dr. Larry Witte, a current executive vice president in the ImClone division of Eli Lilly are attempting raise about $50 million for the privately-held new venture called Kadmon. Other reports indicate that Waksal and other members of the Kadmon team are putting up $50 million as well. 

According to insider reports the company will ostensibly focus on cancer and infectious disease targets and—taking a page out of the Cubist, Celgene and Sepracor play books—re-purpose once promising drug candidates discarded by other companies. To that end, according an article in TheStreet, the company's drug research programs include a "statin inhibitor for influenza" from a "leading Ivy League university" along with a variety of monoclonal antibodies for use as targeted cancer treatments, similar to Erbitux. Kadmon is also eyeing several existing cancer-focused drug companies, one of which already has a marketed product, as acquisition targets, according to the prospectus. For those of you who may be wondering about whether or not Waksal can legally start another biotechnology company, an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission bars Waksal from serving as an officer in a publicly traded company, but as previously mentioned, Kadmon is a private venture.

Whether you like Waksal or not, his track record in the biotechnology industry speaks for itself. Unlike the vast majority of his rivals, Waksal shepherded a molecule from discovery through commercialization. That molecule, a monoclonal antibody called Erbitux, became a multibillion dollar a year treatment for certain forms of colorectal cancer. More importantly, Waksal was one of the first to recognize that humanized monoclonal antibodies directed against certain cellular receptors could be used to treat a variety of oncology indications—a concept that is driving a large portion of discovery and product development in the oncology space. For those of you who may not know, Eli Lilly purchased ImClone two years ago for $7.0 billion dollars after a very public and acrimonious fight over the sale price of ImClone erupted between Carl Icahn, ImClone’s Chairman, and Jim Cornelius, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). ImClone and BMS co-marketed Eribitux prior to the sale.

Waksal has been in and around the biotechnology industry for over 30 years and many consider him to be one of the early industry pioneers. Unfortunately, despite his dubious past, Waksal represents a dying breed of visionaries whose entrepreneurial spirit and unorthodox approach to new drug development is largely responsible the biotechnology industry’s current largess. Like other ex-felons Waksal did his time and like all Americans he is entitled to a second chance.

Let’s hope that Sam learned a few things during his incarceration and is smarter and wiser for his second and possibly final act. I wish Waksal success in his new venture and I hope that he and his team still possess the insight, creativity and tenacity required to discover and develop innovative oncology and infectious diseases drugs.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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The past couple of weeks have been awful for employees at AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline after both companies announced massive worldwide layoffs. Interestingly, the downsizing that has taken place at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in recent years has escaped notice; mainly because media attention has been focused on the sale of two of its non-pharmaceutical divisions, Convatec and Mead Johnson. The sale of these two divisions brought in roughly $8.0 billion giving BMS one of the largest cash reserves among major pharmaceutical companies. 

BMS announced two years ago that is would cut its global work force by 10 percent by 2011. Layoffs and cost cutting measures at BMS have been mainly driven by the impending patent expiry of the blockbuster anti-clotting agent Plavix and several other drugs. Plavix reportedly accounts for a disproportionate amount of the company’s annual sale revenues. Despite its new found largess, the company continues to eliminate jobs and shed employees. To make matters worse, BMS confirmed today (as reported on both Pharmalot and the WSJ Health Blog) that it will eliminate pay raises in 2010 for the people who still have jobs at the company. Luckily, bonuses were not eliminated. But as most people who work at big companies will tell you, bonuses are not guaranteed and discretionary. Check out the 2008 total compensation packages (salary, stock options, stock awards, pension etc).

While I don’t profess to have the credentials to be the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, it doesn’t make sense to me to freeze the salaries of employees who are already overly anxious about whether or not they will have jobs when the next round of layoffs take place. Isn’t morale already bad enough?  Does management think employees will be at the top of their games and willing to work hard if they are constantly worrying whether or not tomorrow may be their last day of work?  Of course, naysayers will say that BMS employees should suck it up because they at least have jobs. However, I contend that management ought to invest a portion of the $8.0 billion in its employees rather then use it to buy several more companies to convince Wall Street analysts that BMS is truly a “next generation biopharmaceutical company.”  After all, employees are any company’s most valuable asset!

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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In a  previous post,  I suggested that more layoffs would occur at Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS) by December, 1, 2008. The Pharmalot Blog reported today that 800 more BMS employees ( including scientists) would lose their jobs before the end of 2008. Okay, so I was off by about two weeks.

A company spokesperson told the Pharmalot folks that “We are reducing the global Bristol-Myers Squibb workforce as part of our previously announced second wave of productivity initiatives designed to enhance our ability to address the significant challenges and uncertainties our company faces in the short- and long-term. Headcount reductions associated with the second wave of productivity initiatives will continue through 2010, with a goal of a 10 percent reduction in our global workforce. This [layoff of 800] is in addition to the 10 percent workforce reduction previously announced in December 2007.” 

Things are obviously not going well at BMS these days. Look for more layoffs in early 2009 and beyond. Who do you think is going to buy BMS?

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (Try Lilly I hear ImClone is looking for a few good men and women)

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Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) made a presentation this morning at the Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference that showed the company plans on saving an additional $2.5 billion in “productivity initiatives.” According to its new CFO, the company plans to squeeze the savings out of “headcount and related costs” — which  likely means more downsizing and layoffs.  Rumors have it that these job cuts will take place by December 1, 2008 just prior to when employee bonuses are traditionally decided.

To make matters worse, the Pharmalot blog reported today  that "the drugmaker earlier this week sent a voicemail to employees saying a 2 percent cost of living increase will be given this year to those who are meeting or exceeding performance standards."  The announcement has lead to speculation among BMS employees whether or not the same ceiling will be applied to the bonuses and stock rewards handed to Bristol-Myers CEO Jim Cornelius and members of his executive team.

Heavy losses incurred  by its former CFO who "bet the store" on mortgage-backed securities coupled with the recent, highly publicized failure of Jim Cornelius to purchase ImClone (to gain complete control over the multi-billion dollar Erbitux franchise) suggests that the future of the company may be in serious jeopardy.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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After months of melodrama and acrimonious exchanges between Jim Cornelius and Carl Icahn, Eli Lilly, not Bristol-Myers Squibb, will acquire ImClone and gain access to the multibillion Erbitux franchise. In the end, Carl Icahn, ImClone’s Chairman, got the $70 per share that he wanted for ImClone stock.

BMS’s reluctance to purchase ImClone at the $70 per share price is puzzling. The Pharmalot blog reported that Jim Cornelius, BMS’s CEO, released the following statement after the ImClone/Lilly deal was finalized “We are pleased to have initiated a process that has resulted in the substantial increase of ImClone’s value for all of its stockholders. Perhaps Bristol-Myers has made a comfortable bid for ImClone which would be, in our view, very attractive to the company. If however, it did not succeed then it can liquidate its stake at a premium.” This makes about as much sense as Sarah Palin’s explanation of the factors responsible for global warming—the amount of money that BMS would garner if it liquidates its 16% stake in ImClone would pale in comparison to revenues that would annually accrue from Erbitux sales. Apparently I am not alone in my thinking. According to a financial analyst “the stake’s value independent of full ownership of IMCL is NOT strategic, and gets BMY nothing,”

In my opinion, Jim Cornelius’s failure to acquire ImClone (at any cost) has jeopardized BMS’s future. He had the opportunity to right the wrongheaded licensing deal that his predecessor Peter Dolan entered into with ImClone. The inability of BMS to retain at least partial ownership of its flagship biotechnology product doesn’t bode well for a company that is trying to reinvent itself as a “next generation biopharma company”—if there is a next generation at BMS.

 Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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 Previously, on the Bristol-Myers Squibb/ImClone Let’s Make a Deal Show. BMS offered $60 per share for the outstanding shares of ImClone that it doesn’t already own. As expected, Carl Icahn, ImClones’s Chairman and former corporate raider, summarily rejected BMS’ offer as insulting and an attempt by BMS to undervalue ImClone’s stock. Then, after a month of silence between the two parties, Mr Icahn announced that an undisclosed pharmaceutical suitor had made a better offer to buy ImClone. Today, about three weeks after Mr Icahn disclosed the information about his mysterious stranger, BMS (as expected) grudgingly raised its offer from $60 to $62 per share. The mysterious stranger seems to be out of the mix now.

Conventional wisdom (and word on the street) suggests that ImClone’s stock is worth about $70-$75 per share and that Carl (and the ImClone board of directors) will not sell the company for anything less. Today’s exchange between BMS and ImClone prompted a Wall Street analyst who has been closely following the twists and turns of the deal to write “we view Bristol’s increased bid and attempt to remove the company’s board as futile. The premium over the prior $60 offer is insufficient, in our view, to woo the larger ImClone stock holders to join it in revolt against Mr. Icahn and his allies on the board. The net result of Bristol’s efforts will amount to little more than yet another exchange of testy letters between the two parties.” And, in fact, Jim Cornelius, BMS’s CEO took the opportunity to do just 

It seems to me that whether or not a deal is reached depends more on who wins the pissing match between Mr Cornelius and Mr. Icahn rather than what is in the best interest of the shareholders of both companies. C’mon guys, we are currently in the midst of the worst economic meltdown in the history of the US —do the right thing and consummate the deal already!

Tune in next time for latest installment of the BMS/ImClone Let’s Make a Deal Show.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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Bristol-Myers Squibb announced earlier today that its Board of Directors approved a deal to purchase ImClone for $4.5 billion. BMS already owns about 17% of ImClone’s shares and is ImClone’s US marketing partner for Erbitux, a monoclonal antibody treatment for colorectal and head and neck cancers. BMS bought Kosan Biosciences earlier this year for $195 million.

The ImClone offer comes after an announcement late last week from CEO Jim Cornelius who said that there will likely be more job cuts at BMS to keep pace with the company “productivity transformation initiative.”  Earlier this year, BMS sold ConvaTec, its wound care and medical device subsidiary for $6.5 billion which will likely provide BMS with the monies necessary to complete the ImClone purchase.

The acquisition makes sense for BMS because of its campaign to re-invent itself as a “next generation biopharma company.” Currently, BMS’s biotechnology roster consists of only two drugs: Erbitux (which was developed by ImClone and licensed by BMS) and Orencia a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. That said, BMS has several monoclonal antibodies and other biotechnology drugs in its pipeline. I think that the purchase of ImClone makes BMS more attractive as a takeover target for Sanofi-Aventis or another major pharmaceutical company itching to get into the biotechnology frenzy.

BMS’s purchase of ImClone closes the book on a steamy and oft times nefarious drug development saga that I assume both companies would like to forget. As you may recall, in 2001, Peter Dolan, then CEO of BMS, cut a questionable licensing deal (and made a $2.0 billion investment in ImClone) for marketing rights to Erbitux. At that time, Sam Waksal, one of ImClone’s founders, was CEO of the company.  Shortly after the deal, BMS researchers discovered that the clinical trials data that were used to convince BMS that Erbitux was a treatment for colorectal cancer were flawed.  Because of this, BMS was forced to invest hundreds of millions of dollar and spend several more years before it would ultimately win regulatory approval for Erbitux.  Meanwhile, before the deal was finalized, Waksal, seeing a huge financial upside, engaged in insider trading of ImClone’s stock. Later, he disclosed that he needed the money to cover the enormous debt that he incurred because of his high profile NYC lifestyle. Ultimately, Waksal and his close friend Martha Stewart plead guilty to insider trading of ImClone stock and spent several years in prison.

Ironically, the acquisition of ImClone by BMS is something of a vindication for former CEO Peter Dolan. At the time that Dolan cut the deal with ImClone, many Wall Street analysts and industry insider thought that Dolan paid an excessive amount for Erbitux which was clinically unproven. Ultimately, Dolan was ousted as CEO after it was learned that he cut an illegal deal with Apotex, a Canadian generics manufacturer, to delay release of generic versions of its anti-clotting drug Plavix (co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis) after expiry of Plavix patents in 2010.

The BMS-ImClone deal is one of several big M &A deals that have recently taken place as a result of financially-troubling times. Don’t expect consolidation in the pharma and biotechnology industries to subside any time soon!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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