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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (9471)	11/12/2003 2:38:00 PM
From: Icebrg	Respond to of 52153

...cont Q: Idec has suffered disappointments in its drug development pipeline, and your non-Hodgkin's lymphoma drug Zevalin has not performed well. If things had gone differently, would Idec be merging? A: It would have been remarkably difficult for us to have quadrupled our R&D investment. It would have required quadrupling our top line. There are going to be disappointments in this business. That is why we call it discovery. You know, I think that our pipeline, speaking for Idec, has gotten something of a bad rap. We just did not have the money to invest in the pipeline. Now we have the cash to take these things forward. You can have a fleet of cars, but if you have no gasoline, you can't take them very far. Q: How do you and Jim Mullen complement each other? A: I am not detail oriented. Jim is very detail oriented. I love to think about five to 10 years from now. He is good about thinking about this quarter or this year. I have a science background, so having drug discovery and venture investing report to me makes a lot of sense. He has an engineering background, so having manufacturing report to him makes a lot of sense. I tend to hook my golf ball and he tends to slice his — it's a perfect match. Q: When Idec and Biogen announced their merger, some analysts predicted the biotechnology industry would consolidate. Is a merger wave underway in biotechnology? A: This type of move does not make sense for everybody. Taking two teams and rolling them into one is a daunting challenge. I wouldn't say this is the beginning of a trend. Q: The biotech industry in San Diego hopes to evolve from being a research and development hotbed to an integrated biotechnology center. Idec established a manufacturing base here. Can biotech manufacturing take hold on a broader scale? A: I am disappointed by the loss of the manufacturing tax credit in this state. If you want people to invest in manufacturing here, where water, labor, land and utilities are more costly, you are going to have to give them incentives to do that. Q: Should that be on Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger's to-do list? A: Absolutely. Q: A year ago, you predicted that in 10 years Amgen still would be the world's largest biotechnology company but that Idec would rank second, edging out Genentech. And Idec would get there by developing a stable of blockbuster drugs — products with annual sales of $1 billion or more. Do you care to revise your prediction? A: I am not going to modify that. I am happy to take on Genentech. Q: What about Amgen? A: Give us 20 years to get there. latimes.com