Health Winners & Losers: ImClone
10/06/08 - 01:28 PM EDT
Elizabeth Trotta
Biotech stocks dropped as the markets plummeted at the start of the week, though some stock success stories broke through.
The Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology indices were down 5.3% and 4.9%, respectively. The Nasdaq global biotechnology index was off by 5.6%. The only stock in the green on the Amex index was ImClone Systems (IMCL Quote - Cramer on IMCL - Stock Picks), which tacked on $1.75, or 2.7%, to $6.71 after Eli Lilly (LLY Quote - Cramer on LLY - Stock Picks) confirmed that it bid $70 a share or roughly $6.1 billion. Eli Lilly said the offer represents a premium of 51% to ImClone's closing stock price on July 30, the day before Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY Quote - Cramer on BMY - Stock Picks) acquisition offer for ImClone was made public. Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers Squibb, which had launched a hostile tender for $62 a share, indicated it would not raise its offer. But it also isn't walking away empty-handed. The company said it owns roughly 14.4 million shares, or 16.6%, of ImClone. Considering that, the transaction is worth about $1 billion in cash for Bristol-Myers. Eli Lilly shares were down 5.4% to $39.16. Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers shares gave up 4.5% to $19.51. Turning to study results, the wait for interim data from Dendreon (DNDN Quote - Cramer on DNDN - Stock Picks) is over. Dendreon shares soared $2.67, or 52%, to $7.87, after the company said prostate cancer vaccine Provenge had a 20% reduction in the risk of death at the interim analysis. The FDA required a 22% reduction in order to grant approval based on these mid-study data, so the trial will continue, with investors waiting for a final readout in 2009.
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