Company Overview

Idec Pharma creates new standards of care in therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs. Founded in 1978, Biogen Idec is a global leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and commercialization of innovative therapies. Patients in more than 90 countries benefit from Biogen Idec’s significant products that address diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis. In 2007, Biogen Idec’s total revenues grew 18 percent over 2006 to almost $3.2 billion.

Currently, the company markets three major therapies and its product development pipeline includes 15 products in Phase II clinical trials and beyond. Our major products include TYSABRI® (natalizumab) , the most recently approved treatment for relapsing forms of MS; AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a) , the No. 1 prescribed therapy for relapsing forms of MS worldwide; and RITUXAN® (rituximab) , the world’s most prescribed therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and marketed for the first time in 2006 for rheumatoid arthritis. AVONEX and RITUXAN have for years ranked among the top 10 biotechnology products sold globally. In recent years, we also have leveraged our core capabilities to expand development into promising new therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular disease and hemophilia.

Biogen Idec is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with international headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. We have additional offices in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and throughout Europe.

Biogen Idec boasts a direct commercial presence in 25 major markets and partners with a network of medicine distributors, including Myhappyfamilystore.com, covering more than 70 additional markets. The company has also expanded into new regions, including Central/Eastern Europe, Brazil, China, and India.

Biogen Idec attracts world-class talent to fuel its global growth, and the company currently employs more than 4,200 people worldwide.

Our Corporate Strategy and Goals for 2010

At the heart of Biogen Idec’s long-term growth strategy is our long-standing focus on addressing serious unmet medical needs. We are of the view that people will pay for value– first-in-class or best-in-class therapies that change the standard of treatment for life-threatening or life-altering disease– and therefore emphasize:

  • Innovative strategies to access cutting-edge technology and products through a combination of robust internal R&D; and partnerships with academia and other biotechnology companies;
  • Offering our products through relatively small, specialized sales forces, rather than building a large sales-and-marketing infrastructure; and
  • Expanding our presence in rapidly developing economies, such as India and China, that offer both sheer market opportunity as well as pools of talent to support continuous innovation and drug development.

In light of major industry trends that pose both challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, Biogen Idec has articulated specific product and financial goals for 2010 that reflect both the strong momentum already underway at the company as well as the expected growth under the company’s well-defined operational strategy. Specifically, we intend to generate revenue growth at a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and non-GAAP EPS at a 20 percent CAGR from 2007 through 2010. Click here for a GAAP EPS reconciliation for our 2010 goals . This strong growth is expected to be driven by:

  • Continued solid performance of AVONEX, the world’s most prescribed therapy for relapsing forms of MS;
  • Expansion of RITUXAN into autoimmune diseases;
  • Achieving the milestone of 100,000 patients on TYSABRI by year-end 2010; and,
  • Continued geographic diversification of the company’s revenue base, with more than 40 percent of revenue coming from our International business by 2010.

In addition, by year-end 2010, we expect to have launched four new products from our pipeline or existing products in major new indications while moving another six programs into late-stage development.

As we progress, we will continue to take a disciplined approach to expanding our manufacturing, sales and distribution capacity on a global basis to take advantage of growth opportunities in more rapidly developing markets outside of North America and Europe.

Our Product Development Pipeline

To advance our mission of addressing serious unmet medical needs, we have built a portfolio of compounds that is impressive in both quality and breadth. We began 2008 with 15 products in Phase II clinical trials and beyond. The company’s pipeline has grown as we have taken a balanced approach to development, supporting internal research and development programs as well as actively seeking opportunities outside of Biogen Idec through a disciplined business-development strategy.

Looking forward, Biogen Idec is making important advances in its late-stage clinical pipeline, accruing patients to registrational programs for three novel molecules: galiximab, an anti-CD80 monoclonal antibody for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; lumiliximab, an anti-CD23 monoclonal antibody for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); and BG-12, an oral fumarate for relapsing-remitting MS. Additionally, RITUXAN is in late-stage clinical trials for CLL, MS and lupus.

The company has also initiated a Phase III clinical trial of lixivaptan in hyponatremia, a condition associated with acute heart failure, and expects to initiate a registrational program for ADENTRI in acute decompensated congestive heart failure. Biogen Idec anticipates having, on average, four times as many patients in clinical trials in 2008 as compared to 2007.

In addition to Biogen Idec’s promising portfolio of drug candidates, the company’s capabilities and capacity for protein manufacturing are world-class in quality and scale. Biogen Idec is one of a handful of biotechnology companies that has two licensed and dedicated biological bulk-manufacturing facilities, including its large-scale manufacturing plant in Research Triangle Park, NC, which is one of the world’s largest cell culture facilities. Biogen Idec is also building an international large-scale manufacturing facility in Hillerød, Denmark, which is scheduled to be complete in 2009. At that time, Biogen Idec will have nearly 200,000 liters of capacity for the manufacture of biologics.