Biogen Idec's CEO nets bonus despite bad year

Following a year that saw its company stock slide by 32 percent, Biogen Idec's board of directors awarded CEO James Mullen a $1.2 million bonus, a 10 percent salary hike, options to buy 240,000 shares of company stock and a grant of 180,000 restricted shares. Mullen was awarded a $1.35 million bonus for 2004 in recognition of the company's success in developing Tysabri, a blockbuster therapy for multiple sclerosis. But Biogen Idec and its partner Elan pulled the drug from the market February 28 after it was linked to a rare and sometimes fatal CNS disease. In separate news, the FDA approved Biogen Idec's Rituxan for another form of lymphoma.

- read this Boston Globe report