ImClone Systems Inc (formerly IMCL)

[biophud]

Happy Fathers Day to all of the dads. IMCL M&A possibilities—Just wanted throw out my opinions on a couple of M&A possibilities. Full disclosure--I’m long IMCL, MEDX, and DYAX.

Because of the complexities and uncertainties of antibody patents, I would not mind seeing IMCL buy its own method of generating antibodies (see my previous post). IMO DYAX would be a good choice. DYAX has a low market cap and the majority of IMCL’s preclinical antibodies were generated using DYAX's phage-display.

Another possibility would be MEDX. The positives would be geographic proximity, both companies have a relationship with BMY (not sure if this is a positive), and if BMY wanted to take-out either IMCL or MEDX, such a merger could be a defensive move (protecting both companies from BMY—similar to the Biogen/Idec merger) and resulting in a dominant antibody-focused biotech company.

One key difference--IMCL has the size/cash to buy DYAX. I’m not sure how an IMCL/MEDX could be structured. If MEDX has significant price appreciation (most likely due to advancement of its anti-CTLA4 AB), it would not be inconceivable that MEDX could have a market cap on par with IMCL.

Comments appreciated,

biophud