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The New York Times today reported that Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) will acquire Seattle, WA-based Zymogenetics for $885 million or $9.75 per share. The two companies were jointly developing new medicines to treat hepatitis C infections. The $9.75 a share in cash represents an 84 percent premium to Zymogenetics closing stock price on Tuesday.

BMS executives must believe that the jointly-developed hepatitis C product, PEG-interferon lambda will be a winner because the company is usually reluctant to pay such high premium prices for acquisitions. The new PEG-interferon lambda product will have to compete against similar products PEG-Intron (peginterferon alfa-2b, Merck) and Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2b, Roche) in a highly competitive hepatitis C treatment market currently dominated by Roche. Also, several companies, most notably Vertex Pharmaceuticals, have orally-bioavailable small molecule hepatitis C treatments in late stage clinical development. All of the PEGylated interferons must be administered via injection.

BMS has a variety of marketed treatments for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B infections. These products, along with its market leading anti-clotting agent Plavix (co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis) are facing fierce generic competition in the not-to-distant future.

The company’s acquisition of Zymogenetics is another step towards transforming BMS from a small molecule pharmaceutical company into a biotechnology-focused drug maker. In addition to PEG-interferon lambda, Zymogenetics is developing protein-based treatments for surgical bleeding (recombinant human thrombin), metastatic melanoma (IL-21) and atopic dermatitis (IL-31 mAb). 

Zymogenetics was founded in 1981 and is one of Seattle’s largest independent, publicly-traded biotechnology companies. Stay tuned as more consolidation continues in the biotechnology sector.

Until next time....

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

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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!and declared that it was on the hunt for a merger or acquisition partner. A ll 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!!!!!

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Despite the Martha Stewart-Sam Waksal insider trading scandal in 2001, ImClone, the company founded by Waksal in 1984, is doing well and managed to sell $1.1 billion of its anti-cancer drug Erbitux in 2006. Erbitux is a monoclonal antibody that is approved to treat colorectal cancer and certain head and neck cancers. ImClone co-markets Erbitux, its only product, with Bristol Myers Squibb (US) and Merck KGA (Europe).

In September, ImClone agreed to pay over $65 million in cash to Waltham, Mass.-based Repligen - a portion of that was designated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - to get royalty-free rights to U.S. Patent No. 4,663,281 and U.S. Patent No. 5,665,578. Repligen had contended that ImClone infringed both patents when developing and manufacturing Erbitux for commercial purposes.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Repligen gained the rights to Patent No. 5,665,578 from Abbott Laboratories via a sublicensing agreement. Although Repligen settled with ImClone over the disputed patent, Abbot has not. 

Late last week, Abbot filed papers in federal court requesting a face-to-face interview with Waksal who is currently serving a seven-year term in the Otisville Correctional Facility in New York. Abbot contends that Sam “played a central role in numerous issues significant to this [patent] litigation.” ImClone is not opposing the request. I guess ImClone knows a lot more about Sam than we do!

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Rumors are flying that Bristol Myers Squibb  (BMS) may be purchased or merged with European pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis. BMS and Sanofi have marketing agreements to sell the anti-clotting agent Plavix and the blood pressure treatment Avapro. The news has pushed BMS stock to a nearly three year high. Sources say that the merger could be announced within the next few weeks. BMS is still reeling from the Erbitux debacle of several years ago and the recent launch of a generic version of Plavix which flooded the market until a judge ordered generic manufacturer Apotex to stop distributing its version of Plavix.

This may be good news for BMS shareholders but bad news for BMS employees who will likely be right-sized if the merger is approved and takes place.

Stayed tuned for updates.

Until next time.....

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

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