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Biogen Idec Inc. agreed to acquire partner Elan Corp.’s stake in the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri for $3.25 billion in cash plus future royalties.

The deal gives Biogen all rights to the product, and the company will pay royalties to Elan, Dublin-based Elan said in a statement today. The companies had been splitting profit equally on the medicine, which generated $1.6 billion in sales in 2012.

The deal ends speculation that Biogen would buy Elan and transforms the Irish company into an investment vehicle in search of assets to buy in health care. Elan’s experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease failed in late-stage trials last year, leaving Tysabri as the company’s single major product..... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/index.cfm/tysabri

Wonder if Elan has decided to grab the big profit now before Tysabri's market share starts to sink.

Is Biogen hedging BG12? I thought BG12 was going to grab quite a bit of market share away from Tysabri...

DizzyDean wrote:Is Biogen hedging BG12? I thought BG12 was going to grab quite a bit of market share away from Tysabri...

It wouldn't take much to take market share away from Tysabri due to its ongoing problems with severe side effects.

Biogen is banking on BG12 to be a blockbuster product or at least close to one. That means replacing the revenue that Tysabri is generating at the moment. It's all about market share and combining these two markets would indeed bring Biogen a lot of revenue.

Although Biogen tells us that BG12 is safe, the drug hasn't been used long enough with MS patients to really give us a solid data base. Remember it was Biogen who initially told us that Tysabri was very safe!

Harry