NEW YORK (AP) -- Drug developer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Friday it will sell its would therapy and surgical care unit for $4.1 billion to two private equity firms.

The company will sell the ConvaTec unit to Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners. Proceeds from the sale will be used to help fund Bristol-Myers strategy to shift its focus to biopharmaceuticals. That strategy has already resulted in the $525 million sale of the company's medical imaging unit as well as plans to sell between 10 percent and 20 percent of its Mead Johnson Nutritional unit.

"These decisions support our next-generation BioPharma strategy," said Chairman and Chief Executive James M. Cornelius, in a statement. "We will now have additional financial resources to expedite that strategy as we continue to work to help patients prevail over serious diseases."

The Convatec deal is expected to close during the third quarter. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. served as Bristol-Myers' financial advisers.

Bristol-Myers and many of its peers have been on a mission to reinvent themselves as blockbuster drugs lose patent protection and generic drug developers cut into their revenue drivers. Many companies have been laying off workers and cutting units.

In December, Bristol-Myers said it would lay off about 4,300 employees, or 10 percent of its work force, and close more than half of its manufacturing plants as part of its goal to save $1.5 billion annually by 2010.

The $4.1 million infusion is significant when compared with the company's quarterly revenue. During the first quarter, Bristol-Myers' revenue rose 20 percent to $5.18 billion.