Biogen Idec hails ‘solid’ second quarter performance

Biogen Idec’s chief executive officer George Scangos has expressed satisfaction with the company’s performance in the second quarter of 2010.

The executive, who replaced former president and chief executive officer James Mullen earlier this month, stated that the progress made in the last three months opens up “exciting” growth opportunities over the rest of the year.

Dr Scangos’ comments came as part of Biogen Idec’s latest financial report, which revealed that the company’s revenues for the quarter came to $1.2 billion (785.6 million pounds), an increase of 11 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2009.

It credited this growth primarily to improving sales of Tysabri, the market for which expanded by 17 per cent in the last quarter, as well as sales boosts for Avonex and Rituxan.

Dr Scangos said the company will continue to pursue growth with the launch of new products, with a potential five drugs set to be released in the next three years.

He added that it will also aim to “aggressively execute our marketing plans for Avonex, complete the patient and risk stratification strategy for Tysabri, move the late-stage pipeline forward rapidly and rationalise the research and development portfolio”.