Millennium Gets a Product, and Capabilities

Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s acquisition of Cor Therapeutics Inc. brings the technology integrator a marketed product (Integrilin), the infrastructure that supports it, and, in Vaughn Kailian, Cor's CEO who will now head Millennium's commercial operations, a highly capable biopharmaceutical executive. The firms says their research programs are complementary--even if they don't appear to be at first glance.

The strategic impetus behind Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. 's acquisition of Cor Therapeutics Inc. isn't as apparent as the driver for MedImmune Inc. 's deal for Aviron . (See "MedImmune Reaches for a Blockbuster," in this issue, , [A#2001800250) Nor can Millennium take advantage of the same market situation as did Cephalon Inc. , which recently purchased Groupe Lafon . (See "Biotechs' Holiday Shopping Spree—Buy, Buy, Buy," in this issue,, [A#2001800243) The Cambridge, MA-based technology integrator isn't valued on sales the way Cephalon is—one danger of the deal is that its valuation will shrink as analysts recalibrate their measuring sticks.

Indeed, in buying a company whose stock hasn't performed particularly well—because of the slowing growth of Cor's lead product, eptifibatide...

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