Bristol-Myers already owned 17% of ImClone, but is now offering $4.5B for the rest of the company.
ImClone Systems shares jumped after Cowen and Co. analyst Eric Schmidt upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform in expectation of positive results from the FLEX study for colon cancer drug Erbitux that would prove its efficacy against non-small cell lung cancer. Results are expected to be announced at the June meeting of the American Society for Clincal Oncology (ASCO).
The ImClone stock declined on Friday on indications by experts that the company’s drug Erbitux may not be used to treat lung cancer in most of the cases. Based on this, Friedman Billings Ramsey also downgraded the stock and revised the price target. The stock had earlier risen by 18 percent on September 11, 2007 when the company had announced that a study showed that Erbitux increased the chances of surviving non-small cell lung cancer.
ImClone Systems declared the results of phase 3 of the clinical trials of its cancer drug, Erbitux. ImClone stated that the drug improves the chances of surviving lung cancer. Earlier, in a trial in July, the drug had led to negative results, which had raised doubts over the value of the drug in treating the disease.
FDA didn't approve Erbitux
