Friday, August 7, 2009

Tysabri deal stirs Elan lawsuit against Biogen

By Julie M. Donnelly

Video Gallery

Following the Clean Energy Council Fellows

MHT's Galen Moore: Hiring trends and opportunities

MHT's Marc Songini: Technology to keep seniors healthy

Related News

Biogen aims to acquire Facet Biotech [September 4, 2009]

Biogen profit falters amid MS drug deal, higher R&D costs [July 16, 2009]

Biogen starts Phase 3 trial of MS treatment [June 22, 2009]

Biogen Idec to pay Genentech $31.5M in R&D deal [November 3, 2008]

Biogen withdraws arthritis drug after trial failures [October 10, 2008]

Elan Corp. has filed suit against Biogen Idec, essentially asking a federal court to determine whether Elan has breached a preexisting marketing agreement between the two companies.

The filing comes on the heels of Dublin-based Elan’s (NYSE: ELN) recently announced marketing deal with Johnson & Johnson Co., which has agreed to help Elan purchase Biogen’s rights to its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri if Biogen is acquired by another entity.

Elan claims the agreement does not violate its preexisting marketing agreement with Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) for Tysabri.

Elan officials said they received a July 28 letter from Biogen asserting the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) deal, which calls for J&J to invest over $1 billion in Elan, violates the companies’ 2000 commercialization pact for Tysabri.

Some Biogen shareholders, such as activist investor Carl Icahn, have pushed for a sale of Biogen to a larger pharmaceutical company.