Facet Biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FACT]]), the Redwood City, CA-based biotech company, said today that its board has rejected Biogen Idec’s hostile takeover offer of $14.50 a share, or about $355 million. The two companies are partners in developing daclizumab, an antibody for multiple sclerosis. Facet says Biogen is seeking to buy full rights to the drug after it passed a key hurdle in development which increased its value. Investors are wagering that Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) will have to raise its bid to buy Facet, as they drove shares up to more than $16 today.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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