Eli Lilly Is Ready To Take Over Icos At $ 2.1 billion

On a sudden announcement by Eli Lilly on 17 th October, the company publicly revealed its intention of acquiring Icos Corp., its partner in the production and marketing of the anti-impotency drug Cialis at a whopping sum of $2.1 billion. After the acquisition of Icos by Eli Lilly, the shareholders of Icos Corporation will receive $ 32 for each share of the stock shared by both the companies.

A spokesman from Eli Lilly spelled out in a public statement that the company has been sharing a very fruitful relationship with Icos for the last eight years and is now hopeful of increasing the availability of Cialis across the world through this new venture.

Along with giving their collective approval on the merger, Icos board of directors have also asked shareholders to give their consent. The formalities of the takeover are expected to be completed by late this year or in early 2007 after the approval by the shareholders.

As soon as all the proceedings and formalities are finalized, Eli Lilly will incur a one-time charge to earnings for research on Cialis but according to a revelation by the company, it is still very early to make an evaluation of the charge.

Wall Street analysts are not sure about whether, after this new undertaking, the drug Cialis would be able to give a competitive edge to other erectile dysfunction medicines like Viagra and Levitra.

Source: marketwatch.com