In a move designed to cut its costs, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec announced it is selling its California manufacturing plant to Genentech for $408 million. Biogen Idec completed the plant at the end of last year at a cost of $480 million and had intended to make Tysabri at the plant, the new drug for multiple sclerosis that was pulled from the market earlier in the year after it was linked to cases of a rare brain infection. The biotech plans to take a $50 million to $57 million write-off for the plant. None of the 430 workers at the plant will lose their job, with most going onto Genentech's payroll.
Once slated as a blockbuster drug, Tysabri now has a questionable future with a number of analysts saying that it's unlikely that it could be used beyond a small target group of patients. Genentech, on the other hand, has had a string of winning therapies in its pipeline.
- read this story from the Boston Globe for more