The deal that would mean that the erectile dysfunction medication would be wholly owned by Eli Lilly is under pressure now as a major player in the regulation of corporate deals namely the Institutional Shareholder Services ISS has put out a recommendation that shareholders of the company that is being bought (ICOS) should refuse the $32 offer per share. The report that was issued recently makes it clear that the ISS thinks that the offer is too low and that the timing of the announcement was not done properly as it was just 2 days before results were announced that showed that the Cialis drug was selling extremely well as was gaining ground on its big rival Viagra. On the basis of this they felt that the valuation of ICOS that owns 50% of the Cialis drug was just too low.

The report went onto criticise the fact that the executives of ICOS were due to get massive payouts if the deal went ahead meaning that they would get special one off bonuses to the value of 13.6 million dollars.

All market analyst say that Cialis has a very bright future in the erectile dysfunction market and that in the future it could be the best selling erectile dysfunction drug in the world overtaking Viagra to the number one spot. The drug is especially popular because it can work for a much longer time than Viagra sometimes up to as long as 36 hours. This unique selling point is probably the reason why it continues to gain market share.

HealthCor Management that owns 5% of the stock in ICOS reckons the company is worth more like $40 per share and was happy that the ISS report was against the deal at $32 per share. HealthCor have been against the deal form the moment it was announced and said that Cialis’s future values the drug at much more.

The final decision will be during the shareholder vote that is due on December 19th.