Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers was expected to lose both blood thinner Plavix, which it sells with sanofi-aventis
In order to shorten the cliff's fall, Bristol-Myers announced yesterday that it was extending its agreement with Otsuka until 2015 when the patent on Abilify expires. Bristol-Myers will pay $400 million up front for the pleasure and reduce its share of the revenue, currently at 65% but ramping it down to about 51%. On the other hand, Otsuka will begin to pick up some of the tab for marketing Abilify.
The patent cliff that almost every drugmaker is facing is the dark side of developing blockbuster drugs. Be it Pfizer's
With the cliff in plain sight, share prices will be determined by what the companies do between now and their rapidly approaching fall. Adding a parachute in the form of marketing deals like this one along with its developmental-stage deal with Exelixis
More Foolishness:
- Here's some more drugmakers with cash to spend.
- Seven more stocks swimming in cash.
- Big Pharma's R&D model is broken.