Slim bet

Chance plays a huge part in the drugs business. Potential blockbusters often turn into sugar-pills with a laundry list of side effects. Luck also plays a role in which companies survive. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s days as an independent company once looked numbered. The chances of a takeover of the $57 billion firm are receding. Bristol looked like takeover bait in the summer of 2006 when it temporarily lost exclusivity on its biggest drug, blood thinner Plavix. The subsequent firing of its chief e...