LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ImClone Systems Inc is in advanced talks to be acquired by Eli Lilly and Co for $70 a share, topping a rival bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co , the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.
The offer values the New York-based biotechnology company, which makes the cancer drug Erbitux, at $6.1 billion, the journal's website said in a brief item.
If the bid is successful it would mark the end of one of the most colorful corporate sagas in biotech history, complete with the jailing of founder Sam Waksal and his friend Martha Stewart, the style guru caught for lying to investigators over her suspicious trading in ImClone stock.
Investors who have stayed along for the ride have seen the company's shares fall as low as $6 and as high as $87. They endured a protracted boardroom battle as Icahn and his associates ousted the company's previous board and revived the company's tattered relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb, which markets Erbitux in the United States.
After repairing the relationship and renegotiating some of the terms of their agreement, investors watched it fall apart again as Bristol offered to acquire the 83 percent of ImClone it doesn't already own for $60 a share.
When Icahn rejected the offer, Bristol threatened and postured and then raised the offer to $62.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke, Bill Berkrot and Deena Beasley; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
