March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. may be the next drugmaker to be bought after Merck & Co.’s $41.1 billion purchase of Schering-Plough Corp. and Pfizer’s $68 billion deal with Wyeth pressure companies to consolidate.

Bristol-Myers rose 3.6 percent in New York trading on speculation the drugmaker may be a target of French rival Sanofi-Aventis SA. Other suitors may include London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and AstraZeneca Plc, and New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, said David Moskowitz, an analyst with Caris & Co., in an interview.

Bristol-Myers last week formed a new decision-making group, consisting of its top managers, to pursue deals and drug development. Chief Executive Officer James Cornelius said he is looking for acquisitions after the company finished last year with $8 billion in cash and completed six deals since September 2007. The company has bolstered its pipeline of experimental drugs, making it an attractive target, Moskowitz said.

“Bristol-Myers is next,” Moskowitz said in a telephone interview today. “I think there is more consolidation to come. Ultimately these companies will have more power, jobs are going to be lost, and there is less money that will be available for research and development. In the long term, the public will suffer.”

Bristol-Myers shares gained 66 cents to $19.01 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares dropped 13 percent in the last 12 months, topping the Standard & Poor’s 500 Health Care Index, which tumbled 31 percent.

Bristol-Myers and Sanofi share profits of the anti-clotting drug Plavix, the world’s second-biggest selling drug, and of the hypertension treatment Avapro. Plavix faces generic competition in the U.S. in 2012.

Merck’s Deal

Merck & Co. agreed today to buy Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion in cash and stock, giving it full rights to cholesterol pills Zetia and Vytorin and experimental treatments for blood clots, asthma and schizophrenia. The deal would make Merck the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker.

The deal comes less than two months after Pfizer’s bid to buy Wyeth in January and Roche Holding AG’s $45.7 billion hostile offer for U.S. partner Genentech Inc. last week.

Brian Henry, a spokesman for Bristol-Myers, and Geoffroy Bessaud, spokesman for Sanofi, declined to comment on acquisition strategies.

Drug companies have “huge” cash balances and low market values, making it an ideal time for acquisitions, Moskowitz said.

“Any company that misses out on this round of mega mergers runs the risk of losing market share,” said Navid Malik, an analyst at London-based Matrix Corporate Capital LLP, in an interview.

Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher, while not ruling out a large merger, is looking for “small to medium- sized” acquisitions to replace revenue it expects to lose to generic competition in coming years, the 48-year-old executive said last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 9, 2009 17:44 EDT