BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

BMS: It's about the cash

August 4, 2008 7:00 AM UTC

Although buying ImClone Systems Inc. has always been an obvious option for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., and even though the biotech was far cheaper months ago, the pharma company said it didn’t have the cash to pull the trigger until it began a process of unloading assets.

Last week, armed with free cash from the recent sale of its ConvaTec business, and looking to make strategic moves ahead of patent expirations for its three key drugs between 2011 and 2014, BMS bid $4.5 billion for the 83.4% of ImClone it doesn’t already own...