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Drugmaker Biogen Idec 4Q profit surges
Biogen Idec Inc. on Wednesday said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 84 percent on strong sales of the company's two leading drugs, and a gain from a multiple sclerosis drug that returned to the market after being temporarily withdrawn over safety concerns.

The results, which beat Wall Street expectations, come as the biotechnology company remains under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn to find a large pharmaceutical firm willing to make a buyout offer.

Icahn on Jan. 28 accused Biogen Idec of rigging its recent search to find a bidder so that it was doomed to fail. On a conference call with analysts Wednesday, Biogen Idec Chief Executive James Mullen said no buyers emerged because risks surrounding the MS drug Tysabri scared off potential bidders.

Biogen Idec shares rose $1.49, or 2.5 percent, to $62.01 in morning trading Wednesday.

The Cambridge-based company reported net income of $201.2 million, or 67 cents per share, compared with a profit of $108.6 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 26 percent to $893.3 million from $708.3 million.

Excluding various one-time items including merger-related costs and stock option expenses in both quarters, Biogen Idec's profit rose 45 percent to $266 million, or 89 cents per share, up from $184 million, or 53 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

On that basis, the latest quarter's performance beat the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who expected a profit of 80 cents per share and revenue of $836.2 million.

Biogen Idec's revenue gain was led by a 17 percent increase in Biogen Idec's share of sales of Rituxan, a treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis that the company co-promotes in the U.S. with Genentech Inc. Biogen Idec's share of quarterly Rituxan revenue was $254 million.

Biogen Idec's top-selling drug, a 12-year-old MS treatment called Avonex, recorded a 15 percent sales gain to $503 million.

Tysabri, for which Biogen Idec shares rights with Ireland's Elan Corp., generated fourth-quarter revenue of $90 million for Biogen, up from $18 million in the year-ago quarter.

Tysabri had been seen as a potential blockbuster before it was withdrawn three years ago after two clinical trial patients died of a rare brain disorder. U.S. and European authorities approved Tysabri's reintroduction in June 2006, but with restrictions to monitor patients for symptoms of the brain disease.

About 21,000 patients were on Tysabri as of the end of last year, up from 17,000 at the end of September. Biogen Idec hopes to have 100,000 patients by the end of 2010.

Although no new cases of the brain disorder have turned up since Tysabri's return, Mullen told analysts Wednesday that continuing safety concerns were the key reason a recent two-month search for a buyer failed to yield any offers. Many analysts had expected big drugmakers would be enticed to offer $20 billion or more to bolster their slow-growing portfolios with a biotech company boasting a robust pipeline of drugs in development.

"I think it's clear that for those few major pharmas who could afford an acquisition of our size, the perceived risk profile of Tysabri at this time was simply too great," Mullen said. "As a result, the company is moving forward."

Mullen said Biogen Idec would "continue to explore all of our opportunities," and called his company's future is "extremely bright."

Mullen defended the failed search for a buyer as "professional, objective and thorough," with nearly 20 potential buyers contacted.

Icahn helped trigger Biogen Idec's search for a buyer after snapping up millions of the company's shares last summer. Last month, he submitted names of three supporters he hopes will be elected to Biogen's board, and he holds about a 4 percent stake of Biogen's shares.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8UKSM800.htm