Will A Sanofi Buy-Out Snatch Bristol-Myers From Its Misery

It would be one of the largest deals in the history of the drug industry. Perhaps the biggest, period.

Late reports from Europe are that drug mega company Sanofi-Aventis is in talks to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), the troubled US pharma concern. The deal would create the world’s largest drug company.

Bristol-Myers sacked its CEO in September on the advice of a federal government monitor after BMY pursued a deal to delay a generic version of its blood drug Plavix.

Big Pharma has been faced with falling investor confidence as generic drugs replace drug company blockbusters has they come "off patent". There is a growing concern that the multi-billion dollar contributors to drug company top lines and operating profits my not be replaced by new winners from R&D pipelines. Tests of one of Pfizer’s (PFE) most promising drugs were canceled in December and the company has announced lay-offs of 10,000 employees.

A merger of Bristol-Myers and Sanofi would almost certainly lead to huge employee eliminations and other savings.

And, that is the way the drug industry is moving.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.