The drugmaker, Bristol-Myers Squibb on Thursday offered $4.5 billion in cash for its cancer drug partner, biotechnology company ImClone Systems , saying the two are "a natural fit" and together could reach more patients.
ImClone's board has yet to comment on the proposal, which offers its stockholders $60 per share, a 30 percent premium to New York-based ImClone's closing price of $46.44 Wednesday. New York-based Bristol-Myers already owns about 17 percent of ImClone.
The two companies have been partners since September 2001 in developing Erbitux, which is approved for treating advanced colorectal cancer and head and neck cancers.
Is now the time to play biotech?
From time to time Joe Terranova talks about playing the biotechs with the Biotech ETF SPDR S&P Biotech to spread out your risk. However Guy Adami doesn’t like that trade. On CNBC’s Closing Bell he says, “Forget about the ETF in biotech because in this space you’ve got to pick the right stocks. The ETF won’t do much over the long course.”
If you watch Fast Money regularly you might already know that Adami’s favorite biotech is Celgene . “I love it more after the Bristol-ImClone deal,” he says. “They have a drug that I think is going to explode in Europe.”
