Never a bride

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—In the absence of willing suitors, Biogen Idec's Board of Directors announced the company will continue its present course as an independent company. The announcement follows the completion of a strategic review to seek alternatives to maximize shareholder value that suggested the company look for potential buy-out partners.

 

Ignoring the lack of interest by the industry, the Board suggests that the company's business strategy remains sound and that the company will strive to achieve several strategic goals by year-end 2010, including having more than 40% of revenue coming from international business, launching four new products or new indications, getting six programs into late-stage clinical development, and generating 15% CAGR revenue growth.

 

The news isn't all bad for the company, however, as the decisions to open itself to buy-out talks and then to close ranks caused Biogen Idec's stock price to fluctuate significantly over the last 3 months, jumping from the $65 range to the $82 range in mid-October and from about $75 to less than $60 this past week.