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The history of Biogen Idec is more than just a timeline of events. It is a story that centers around a vision of a new approach to science, drug development and integrating the talents and brainpower of visionaries in business and science.

In the beginning, Biogen assembled a team of biologists, each doing breakthrough science in small, separate labs. The emphasis was on important science; two of the co-founders, Phillip Sharp and Walter Gilbert, went on to win the Nobel Prize. Biogen was one of the first companies to develop recombinant proteins using genetic technology. This pioneering work ultimately led to the development of AVONEX^®, an interferon beta-1a used to treat multiple sclerosis.

Several years later in 1985, IDEC was founded by a group of California-based research scientists looking for a way to use monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer. California and Silicon Valley were bursting with venture capitalists, and a group of them teamed up with the scientists to form IDEC. The original idea ultimately reached the market as RITUXAN^®.

When Biogen and IDEC merged in 2003, the combined companies were transformed into the third-largest biotechnology company in the world. The merger allowed Biogen Idec to scale up the R&D, manufacturing, FDA approval mechanisms and infrastructure required to bring important new therapies to market. Conversely, it made Biogen Idec an attractive partner for smaller labs and biotechnology firms developing new treatments (partnerships like this now account for an important percentage of all new drugs approved by the FDA).

Today, Biogen Idec is a $4 billion Fortune 500 company, serving patients around the world. We are proud to have been an important member of the biotechnology industry since its infancy and continue to pursue new ways to create new standards of care in therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs.

2009

• Forbes Magazine places Biogen Idec in the top-five of "Global High Performers" in the Drug & Biotechnology industry.
• Retrospective analysis shows that two years after beginning treatment with TYSABRI, 37 percent of patients remained free of disease activity, compared to seven percent of placebo-treated patients. Sixty-four percent of patients showed no sign of relapse or sustained disability progression and 58 percent were free of radiological disease activity.
• Biogen Idec's world-class expertise and leadership in biologics manufacturing is validated with FDA approval of the company's high titer process for the production of its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug TYSABRI^® (natalizumab).
• Results of a study demonstrate that TYSABRI^® (natalizumab) promotes regeneration and stabilization of damage done to the myelin sheath, as measured by advanced MRI technology.
• FDA grants PEGylated interferon beta-1a (BIIB017) Fast Track designation for relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS).
• Biogen Idec and Acorda Therpeutics announce a collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize MS therapy Fampridine-SP in markets outside the US.
• The Biogen Idec Foundation announces an award of $1 million in a Transformational Grant in Science Education to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to support the expansion of the Center's educational training facility for K-12 science teachers.
• Biogen Idec is issued U.S. patent #7,588,755 for the use of beta interferon for immunomodulation or treating a viral condition, viral disease, cancers or tumors. This patent covers the treatment of multiple sclerosis with AVONEX^® (Interferon beta-1a) and will expire in September 2026.
• Biovitrum AB and Biogen idec announce the advancement of the companies' long-acting, fully-recombinant Factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc) into a registrational clinical trial in hemophilia B patients.
• Biogen Idec signs a memorandum of understanding with Northwest University in Xi'an, China. The company is to become the exclusive sponsor of the "China Community Lab" which is being set up, managed and run by Northwest University.

2008

• FDA approves TYSABRI^® (natalizumab) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease in patients who have failed or cannot tolerate available therapies.
• Genentech and Biogen Idec announce positive results from a Phase 3 Trial of Rituxan in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who inadequately responded to methotrexate
• The Company initiates a Phase 3 clinical trial of IV ADENTRI, an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist, for acute decompensated heart failure patients with renal insufficiency. According to the AHA, more than 60% of heart failure patient have renal insufficiency, an important independent determinant of survival and hospitalization in this clinical setting.
• A post-hoc analysis of data from Phase 3 trials of TYSABRI show that a third of TYSABRI-treated patients experience "recovery of lost function." No other MS therapy has exhibited these kind of results.
• Phase 2b data published in the Lancet show that BG-12, the company's novel oral compound, significantly reduced brain lesions in patients with MS.
• Genentech and Biogen Idec announce that data from two Phase 3 studies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia demonstrated that Rituxan plus chemotherapy significantly increased the time patients lived without their disease advancing, as defined by the primary endpoint of progression-free survival, when compared to chemotherapy alone.
• Genentech and Biogen Idec announce that a Phase 3 clinical study of Rituxan in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who have not previously been treated with methotrexate met its primary endpoint.

2007

• Biogen Idec continues to expand its global footprint, opening offices in Brazil, China and India.
• Escoublac is selected as the first occupant in the Biogen Idec Innovation Incubator (bi³), a corporate initiative designed to contribute to the company's pipeline by offering entrepreneurial scientists the opportunity to rapidly convert novel biological insights into life-saving and life-changing therapies.
• The Board of Directors authorizes management to undertake a review of strategic alternatives to determine whether a sale of the company might result in superior value for stockholders. At the conclusion of the sale process, the company does not receive any definitive offers, and the Board announces that Biogen Idec will continue as an independent company.
• Biogen Idec announces an alliance with Neurimmune Therapeutics to develop novel, fully human antibodies for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
• Biogen Idec partners with Cardiokine to jointly develop lixivaptan, an oral compound that in early 2008 entered a Phase III clinical trial for the potential treatment of hyponatremia in patients with acute decompensated congestive heart failure.
• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends TYSABRI for use in highly active relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.
• Biogen Idec returns $3 billion to investors through a share repurchase.
• Biogen Idec acquires Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, adding programs in hemophilia to the pipeline. Syntonix is operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biogen Idec.

2006

• TYSABRI is reintroduced in the U.S. and launched in the European Union as a treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).
• Biogen Idec acquires Conforma Therapeutics and expands oncology pipeline and research capabilities.
• FDA approves RITUXAN^® for the treatment of moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

2005

• Biogen Idec and PDL BioPharma form global alliance to develop three Phase II antibody products.
• Biogen Idec and Elan voluntarily suspend the marketing and commercial distribution of TYSABRI and inform physicians to suspend dosing until further notification. The companies also suspend dosing in all ongoing clinical trials.

2004

• Construction of the San Diego Research and Corporate Campus completed.
• FDA grants accelerated approval for TYSABRI for relapsing forms of MS. The approval was based on Priority Review of one-year data from two Phase III studies.

2003

• In June 2003, Biogen and IDEC Pharmaceuticals announce their agreement to merge. This merger is finalized in November 2003, creating Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB), a global biotechnology leader with products and capabilities in oncology, neurology and immunology.
• Biogen breaks ground on a large-scale manufacturing plant in Denmark.

2002

• Biogen's 90,000-liter large-scale manufacturing plant in Research Triangle Park, N.C., becomes operational.

2000

• Biogen and Elan Corporation, plc announce collaboration on development and commercialization of the drug candidate ANTEGREN (natalizumab) in MS and Crohn's disease indications. This product later becomes known as TYSABRI.

1999

• Biogen breaks ground on a large-scale manufacturing plant in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

1997

• FDA approves RITUXAN for the treatment of certain types of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) - the first monoclonal antibody to be approved as a cancer therapeutic.
• European Commission approves AVONEX (Interferon beta-1a) for European marketing and sales.

1996

• FDA approves Biogen's AVONEX (Interferon beta-1a) for treatment of relapsing forms of MS.

1995

• Biogen expands to Research Triangle Park, N.C.
• IDEC signs collaboration agreement with Genentech for further development and marketing of RITUXAN, in U.S. and Europe.

1993

• Phillip Sharp, Ph.D., of MIT and a founder of Biogen, receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of split genes. Professor Sir Kenneth Murray of the University of Edinburgh, another Biogen founder, is knighted for his discovery of hepatitis B antigens.
• IDEC begins Phase I clinical trials with IDEC-C2B8, a monoclonal antibody product later known as RITUXAN (rituximab). A Phase II trial begins later that year.

1991

• IDEC holds its Initial Public Offering, becoming a NASDAQ-traded firm under the symbol IDPH.

1989

• SmithKline Beecham, Biogen's licensee for its hepatitis B technology, launches Engerix-B (hepatitis B vaccine) in the United States.

1986

• Biogen's worldwide licensee for recombinant alpha interferon, Schering-Plough, begins commercial sales of Intron A (interferon alfa-2b) - the first Biogen-developed product - for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia.

1985

• IDEC Pharmaceuticals is founded in San Francisco, Calif., to develop and commercialize "anti-idiotype" monoclonal antibodies, a patient-specific, customized approach to treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

1983

• Biogen holds its Initial Public Offering, becoming a NASDAQ-traded firm under symbol BGEN.

1980

• Walter Gilbert, Ph.D., of Harvard University and one of Biogen's founders, receives the Nobel Prize for sequencing nucleotides. Biogen enters into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Schering-Plough Corporation for beta interferon.

1978

• A group of the world's most accomplished biologists gather in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss founding a new kind of pharmaceutical company. Biogen NV is incorporated.