Bristol-Myers won’t raise bid
From Times Wire Services
Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reiterated its $60-a-share offer for ImClone Systems Inc., avoiding a bidding war for now, even though the New York biotechnology company has said a secret suitor is offering $10 a share more.
Bristol-Myers, which has a partnership with ImClone to sell its only product, the cancer drug Erbitux, also said it wouldn’t agree to any changes in its long-term marketing rights for the blockbuster drug. Bristol-Myers, also based in New York, gets 61% of Erbitux’s U.S. and Canadian sales, or roughly one-quarter of global sales, which could approach $2 billion this year.
