ACTIVIST INVESTOR Carl Icahn yesterday stepped up pressure on Elan's US partner Biogen to find a buyer, accusing it of being untruthful about the extent of its efforts thus far.
In a regulatory filing yesterday, Mr Icahn cited documents showing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company had a bidder that Biogen blocked from talking last year with Biogen's Irish partner in the Tysabri multiple sclerosis drug, Elan. The unidentified bidder quit the talks.
Mr Icahn owns a 3.4 per cent stake in Biogen worth about $640 million. He made the allegations after a May 30th court order that forced Biogen to give him access to censored documents about the sale negotiations.
He said the records show that Biogen's board had little input in the process and that at least one potential bidder was prevented from talking to Elan before submitting a binding offer. That may have led the bidder to walk away from the process, Mr Icahn said.
Elan and Biogen's collaboration agreement allows the company not subject to a takeover to buy out the other's interest in the joint venture in the event of a change of control. "There's nothing in those documents that show the process was flawed in any way, despite Mr Icahn's false allegations," said Biogen spokeswoman Naomi Aoki. - (Bloomberg)
