Lilly chops 50 jobs at ImClone after merger

Fifty of ImClone Systems Inc.’s 1,280 employees have been laid off just two weeks after Eli Lilly and Co. closed its acquisition of the New York cancer drug developer, according to New Jersey Business.

Nearly half of ImClone’s 70 sales people were eliminated. Most were focused on ImClone’s main drug, Erbitux.

Indianapolis-based Lilly paid $70 cash for each share of ImClone stock.

Analysts have questioned whether Lilly will make enough money from the cancer drugs to justify the purchase. Lilly outbid New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to make the acquisition.