Icahn Has Ideas For Biogen. Starting With More R&D Spending
Summary
Starting With More R&D Spending Xconomy Boston — Biogen Idec has accused Carl Icahn of having no ideas on how to improve the company, so today the billionaire shareholder activist fired back.“Our nominees will make it clear that we prioritize research and development as a central component to the ethos of Biogen,” said Alex Denner, a portfolio manager for Icahn, in the filing.Today’s filing repeats some of Icahn’s previous arguments that the Biogen board wasn’t intimately involved in the sale process, citing documents he successfully sued in a Delaware court to obtain recently.The fresh material in today’s filing includes the idea that Icahn’s nominees would boost research and development, and work to support promising projects that have “not received adequate attention” at Biogen, the world’s largest maker of multiple sclerosis drugs.Icahn has failed to provide any evidence that he understands what has made Biogen Idec into a global leader that has outperformed the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Amex Biotechnology Index for the past one and three year periods,” wrote Chairman Bruce Ross and CEO James Mullen in their letter to shareholders.