Biogen and IDEC to create biotech leader

Two major US biotech companies -IDEC Pharmaceutical Corporation and Biogen - are to merge to form what they claim will be a new global biotechnology industry leader.

The combined company, called Biogen IDEC, will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will employ more than 1,000 r&d staff with a budget of more than US$550m (Euro 485m). The transaction is expected to be completed early in the fourth quarter of 2003.

'Biogen and IDEC are complementary companies in virtually every sense - therapeutic focus, r&d capabilities, manufacturing infrastructure and financial position,' said Dr William H.Rastetter, chairman and ceo of IDEC.

'Bringing our companies together accelerates both companies' strategic plans and creates a biotechnology leader with the products, pipeline, infrastructure and financial resources to grow faster than either company could achieve separately,' added James C. Mullen, chairman and ceo of Biogen.

The merger is expected to enable the companies to:

significantly accelerate their strategic plans;

diversify their product portfolios;

broaden their respective drug-development programmes

avoid costly infrastructure build-ups, particularly in manufacturing and administration;

achieve cumulative operating expense and capital expenditure synergies.

The Biogen IDEC product line-up will be led by two blockbuster drugs, each with annual net sales of more than $1bn: Avonex, for the treatment of relapsing forms of MS; and Rituxan, for the treatment of certain B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Products recently launched in the US include Amevive (alefacept), launched by Biogen in February for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis; and Zevalin (ibritumomab tiuxetan), for certain B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, launched by IDEC in April 2002.