ImClone remains in negotiation process with unnamed buyer

NEW YORK Following ImClone’s rejection of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s acquisition bid, the biotech will probably continue negotiations for the thus far unnamed company that plans to buy it for a higher price, according to The Wall Street Journal.

ImClone rejected Bristol’s $5.4 billion bid, with chairman Carl Icahn sending Bristol chief executive officer James Cornelius a blunt letter describing the bid as “absurd” and writing that “If you wish to make your attorneys wealthier, I can show you more productive ways to do so.”

The competing bidder, rumored to be Pfizer or Eli Lilly, has offered to buy ImClone for $6.1 billion. Bristol already owns 16.6 percent of ImClone and has a partnership with the biotech to market the cancer drug Erbitux (cetuximab).