Word: idec
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...Stossel says he first learned about industry’s impact on the medical profession after joining the advisory board of Biogen Idec Inc., a Cambridge biotechnology company...
Corralling clumps of misshapen protein could open the way not just to diagnosis but also to treatment. In August, Amorfix partnered with Biogen Idec of Cambridge, Mass., to pursue treatment for ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, with the goal of blocking the protein from misfolding in the first place. "It's just the most awful disease, and the most challenging," says Cashman, who runs an ALS clinic in Vancouver, where he is research chairman of neurology at the University of British Columbia's department of medicine. "It may sound trite, but I want to make a difference, and this...
...first shares to the public. Now Mullen, 44, and the biotech industry are coming of age together - only this time it's no accident. As the ceo of Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mullen is helping force the issue with his proposal last month to merge his company with IDEC Pharmaceuticals in a $7 billion deal that would create the world's third largest biotech firm. The idea, says Mullen, is to "bring business discipline to science and medicine." In other words, he wants to inject a sobering dose of planning and budgets into an industry that has more hype than...
...even if his deal goes through (Genentech is seen as a competing suitor for IDEC) and even if he manages to instill a new level of management intensity in the industry, biotech will remain a dicey game. Only one drug in 5,000 screened makes it to market, and even seasoned health-care investors are reluctant to handicap the process. "We'll take the risk that a company fails to execute its plan once it has a drug approval," says Stuart Weisbrod, chief investment officer of Merlin Biomed, a health-care hedge fund. "What we don't want...
...mutual fund or without diversifying across at least five companies. Given the sharp run-up this year, Weisbrod's hedge fund has cut its biotech holdings a third, and six top executives at Genentech recently sold $36 million of the stock. The relatively stodgy feel of the Biogen-IDEC deal has still other growth investors running for the hills. It's all part of growing up--and part of Mullen's plan. --With reporting by Eric Roston/Washington and Unmesh Kher and Barbara Kiviat/New York