Not if CEO, George Scangos has his way (and I think he has so far). After ascending to the top role in July, scangos has doen a whirlwind review of the company's operations. His conclusion was/is that Biogen Idec was spread too thin across too many therapeutic initiatives - and was hampered by too much productivy-robbing bureacracy. In other words, it had gotten away from its biotech roots and become too Big Pharma like (without the revenue). He decided that needs to change.
Said Scangos, "What's best about small companies is they are fast, they are efficient, and there's not a lot of bureacracy. As the company gets larger, it gets harder and harder to do that. We want to make Biogen [no Idec?] more like a biotech and less like a pharmaceutical firm."
So yesterday, he closed Idec's San Diego facility and jettisoned the oncology and cardiovascular programs housed there. Idec's only significant drug, Rituxan, will now be sold by its partner Genentech as the oncology and RA sales forces also depart. Eleven other clinical programs also will be shut down, including galiximab for lymphoma, anti-tumor agent volocixiumab, and cardiovascular therapy lixivaptan, as Biogen will focus on its neurology expertise with Avonex and Tysabri.
And, there''s a nice piece of property available in San Diego. See Xconomy here and here.
Posted by Bruce Lehr November 4th 2010.
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