Bristol's Billion-Dollar Ante to Stay in the Cancer Game

Bristol-Myer Squibb's deal to pay up to $2 billion for ImClone System's cancer drug, IMC-C225, should be viewed as a broad strategic move more than a product license. BMS badly needs to shore up its cancer franchise following the expiration of its Taxol patent. It paid dearly for IMC-C225, but unlike some competitors, BMS had no epidermal growth factor receptor-based drug in its pipeline. And because EGFr drugs are widely expected to achieve blockbuster status and be used in combination therapies, BMS needed one as a foundation asset around which to sell its other cancer drugs.