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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.

The loss of patent protection last year on paclitaxel (Taxol) has posed the biggest threat to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 's leadership position in oncology drugs in over a decade. Never a company reliant on internal R&D, it badly needed to in-license a major late-stage or already-marketed product to sustain its franchise.

Bristol's whopping September deal for ImClone Systems Inc. 's lead cancer product, IMC-C225, should therefore be viewed more as...

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