UPDATE: Lilly increases ICOS offer 6% to $2.3B

USA-based drugmaker Eli Lilly says that it made an amendment to its proposed acquisition of US biotechnology firm ICOS. Under the revised terms, Lilly will buy all of ICOS's outstanding common stock for $34.0 per share, which represents a total purchase price of approximately $2.3 billion.

In 1998, the two firms established a joint venture that manufactures and distributes the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil), which currently holds around 25% of the US ED market.

Lilly said that the new price, which is a $2 per share increase on the previously-announced merger agreement (Marketletter October 23, 2006), is its final and best offer. Sidney Taurel, Lilly's chief executive, said that the firm was confident that ICOS' shareholders would recognize the substantial value of the proposed deal.