Bio Job Blog : Bio Jobs : Biotechnology Jobs : Biopharmaceutical Jobs : Bioscience, Biotech Jobs : Bio Job Blog : Biocareer : Bio-Business Training, Biotechnology Training : Jobs in Biology : Internships in Biology : Internships in Biotechnology

The old baseball adage which says that  “you can’t tell the players apart without a program” is particularly apt when it comes to tracing the M &A activity that led to the creation of some today's largest pharmaceutical companies.

I used to be able to keep track of all of the moving parts  of most of these mergers but advancing age and unprecedented M&A activity in the pharma industry prevents me from successfully doing this any longer. To that end, about a week ago, the New York Times published a pretty cool and informative chart that historically traces the corporate mergers that lead to creation of Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and others.

Check it out!!!!!

Until next time...

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In the wake of last week’s Pfizer-Wyeth M&A feeding frenzy, I suspect that most analysts were hoping that this week would be a little quieter. Unfortunately for many pharmaceutical company employees, this week may be shaping up to be almost as nerve-wracking as last week! 

 First, Sanofi-Aventis officially threw its hat into the ring and declared that it was on the hunt for a merger or acquisition partner. All of the usual suspects have been cited as possibilities. They include: Bristol Myers Squibb (Plavix, Erbitux, Orencia Abilify) , Amgen (EPO, Aranesp, Neupogen, Neulasta and Enbrel), Biogen-Idec (Avonex, Tsyabri and Rituxan) (Actavis (generics) Ratiopharm (generics) and Crucell (vaccines). The hands on favorite and most likely target would be Bristol Myers Squibb because the two companies co-market Plavix, their top selling drug that is due to lose patent protection in the next year or so. That said, in this environment anything can happen. 

In other news, GlaxoSmithKline announced that it will be cutting 6,000 jobs later this week when the company puts out financial results. The company began reorganizing itself in 2007 and will continue to do over the next few years to deal with generic encroachment on several of its top selling drugs. Glaxo employs about 100,000 people worldwide. Analysts suspect that many of the job cuts will occur in the UK and that sales rep may be hit the hardest in this latest round of layoffs.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 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!!!!!!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to a post over at Pharmalot, BMS may be positioning itself for sale or readying itself as a potential M&A target.   

Although BMS has been rumored for years to be a takeover target, the impending loss of revenues generated by its anticlotting drug Plavix (co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis) due to patent expiry in 2011 is wreaking havoc at the company.  As much as 50% of BMS’s revenue is generated by the Plavix franchise. The impending loss of Plavix suggests that thing must drastically change at the company in order for it to remain independent.

Time will sell….I mean tell....!!!!!

Until next time….

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link