Amylin Allows Talks Between Carl Icahn and Eastbourne

In a filing with the SEC today, San Diego’s diabetes drug developer Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) says it has agreed to let affiliates of billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management “engage in discussions with the other for the sole purpose of facilitating a settlement of the proxy contest.” The two dissident shareholder groups, which together own more than 21 percent of Amylin’s shares, had avoided talking to each other directly out of concern it would trigger Amylin’s anti-takeover provisions. Icahn and Eastbourne had been said to want to push the sale of Amylin to Eli Lilly, the giant pharma that already has a partnership to market Amylin’s products.