Inhibitex buy boosts Bristol in Hep C race

Analysts say Bristol-Myers Squibb's $2.5 billion acquisition of Inhibitex positions the U.S. drug giant in the lucrative market for hepatitis C treatments. Hepatitis C has grown into a worldwide scourge affecting about 170 million people. The virus can be picked up through sexual transmission, drug use and even unsanitary tattoo parlors. Analysts say the deal keeps Bristol-Myers in the running for a nice share of a treatment market that is expected to jump in value from $1.7 billion in 2010 to as much as $16 billion by 2015. The stock offer of $27 per share was 163 percent over Friday's closing price for Inhibitex. But The Wall Street Journal said the pricey deal gives Bristol-Myers a potentially valuable asset in the form of a nucleotide Inhibitex has in Phase 2 clinical trials. Bristol-Myers has a separate drug in Phase 3 trials, but it has a narrower focus than a nucleotide, which is basically a pill that offers comprehensive treatment. "We felt we needed a nucleotide," Dr. Elliott Sigal, head of research and development for Bristol-Myer, told the Journal Saturday night. "In combination with some of our drugs, we think this could be a very powerful regimen." The Journal said major pharmaceutical companies have been cool to nucleotide products in the past due to their side effects, but Sigal said Inhibitex has developed products that are safer to use.