Biotech firm Biogen Idec Inc. is going to drop ‘Idec’ from its name on Monday in order to adopt a new logo. The Massachusetts-based company had merged with Idec Pharmaceuticals over a decade ago.
In a note to the employees, George Scangos, Chief Executive Official of Biogen Idec Inc., said that the name change of the company was intended at highlighting the “remarkable progress” of the company.
“We are at an exciting moment in our history, at the forefront of pioneering science, with possibilities for significant worldwide growth and a united team,” the chief executive wrote in the note.
Both Biogen Inc. and Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. entered into a high-profile merger in 2003.
The change of the name and a new logo at Biogen may appear like insignificant corporate development in an industry which is focused on making exciting medical breakthroughs.
Market analysts believe the development may be in direction of changing commercial priorities, while shifting power within the internal administration that bet huge sums on development of risky products.
Scangos said that he will continue focusing on developing medication for some of the serious and hardest-to-treat diseases.
Last week, the company has announced better-than-expected medical trial results for its experimental drug, Aducanumab, for treating Alzheimer’s disease.
While elaborating upon the future plans of the company, Scangos said, “Five years down the road, with some luck, we’ll have an Alzheimer’s drug that’s getting approved. I hope we can transform the treatment of MS. By that time, we will have made substantial progress on ALS and other nerve degenerative diseases, spinal muscular atrophy in kids. All that stuff is on our plate.”
Biogen Idec is also developing a drug for multiple sclerosis, hoping it will not only address symptoms but also its cause. Experts said this will potentially change the way the treatment is conducted for the disease.
The excited investors sent the company’s shares up 9.7 percent on Friday, while the stock touched a record high of USD 480.18 during the session.
The biotech company has witnessed its market value quadruple in three years to over USD 100 billion on the back of its successful drugs for treating multiple sclerosis.
Biogen was founded in the year 1978 and it calls itself the oldest independent biotech firm of the world. The company had merged with Idec eyeing to widen its research scope with the addition of programs that were largely focused on cancer medications.
