Analysts spread the love as Biogen Idec excites on MS, Alzheimer's

Analysts like to take an early front-row seat on a hot biotech company likely to please the market with a looming set of data. So, as Biogen Idec's ($BIIB) R&D chief Doug Williams already primed expectations earlier with his remarks on promising results seen in early-stage results for its Alzheimer's drug BIIB037, tomorrow's big reveal has focused a bright beam of attention on the company. Credit Suisse analyst Ravi Mehrotra is amped up about 037 as well as anti-LINGO, which is exploring a new approach to repairing the damage that causes multiple sclerosis. He sees each of these drugs as potential blockbusters able to amass more than $5 billion a year in peak sales. And that has quite a few analysts predicting that the company's shares, which have been steaming ahead, are set for another hike. Story