I agree with your misgivings. Spinning off an ImClone clone to develop the pipeline could create the same kind of underfinanced, hanging by a thread, company that ImClone was for all those years, which would slow down the development of the science. It should all be kept together both for the financing and marketing synergies as well as to leverage knowledge about related products.
There is a way to split off the pipeline, at least conceptually. BMY could offer a fixed price, like $60 for IMCL shares plus a contingent right tied to the performance of the pipeline. This right could be structured as a series of flat payments or as a percentage of the early revenues from pipeline drugs. It could also be made a tradeable security, so that if an IMCL holder wants to exit the stock completely that would be possible.
Other bidders could do the same, but the rights could take on different values because of the patent unclarity.
It's a complex and maybe annoying solution, but we have seen much the same thing before. Where? --In BMY's first equity deal with IMCL, which included a fixed price plus milestone payments.
