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To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (30970)	3/23/2000 9:47:00 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Biogen on the Bounce fwiw.......... Reed Williams, MD Mar 23 2000 When you think you deserve more than you?re getting, it never hurts to ask. Biogen [BGEN] asked for more royalties, the arbiter said no, and the company moves on. The great thing about the news is that it has absolutely no impact on the company, but the stock will trade down on the news. In our opinion, this represents a great opportunity to buy one of the biotech bellwethers at a discount. In 1979, Biogen licensed a few patents to Schering-Plough [SGP], giving Schering the right to market alpha interferon in exchange for royalty payments. In the agreement, Biogen was to receive decent royalties for alpha interferon products that were sold. The upside was that any time alpha interferon products were sole in combination with another product that generated higher sales numbers, Biogen would receive a premium for such combination products. Schering combined alpha interferon with Ribavarin from ICN Pharmaceuticals [ICN], and the revenues went up. So in 1998, Biogen sought an arbitration ruling to see if it could receive some extra cash. And why not? If it lost, it was out only the costs of the arbitration. It lost. But nothing has changed except some investor misperception that Biogen is weaker. It?s not. Now Biogen can focus on the important things like existing product sales, pipeline development, and research. If you want a solid investment in the biotech space from a company with good products and earnings, it?s a good time to pick up Biogen stock. The best part? It won?t see the volatility the rest of the sector experiences.