By Jason Derry --
In a press release published this morning, Eli Lilly and Co. has announced
that it has raised its bid for Icos Corp. to $2.3
billion. The proposed deal will be
considered by Icos shareholders in a meeting scheduled for December 26. According to its website, Icos is a
biotechnology company dedicated to "discovering and developing
breakthrough, proprietary products with high commercial potential for the
treatment of serious medical diseases." In 1998, Lilly and Icos formed a 50/50 joint venture to market Cialis®.
Today's announcement lends credence to a recent article
in BusinessWeek,
which reports that big pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking to
acquire or enter licensing agreements with smaller biotechnology companies.
Jason Derry, Ph.D., who graduated with honors from DePaul University
College of Law, is a molecular biologist and founding author of Patent Docs.
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