Facet Biotech says Biogen Idec's offer undervalues the firm

Facet Biotech's board of directors has reviewed Biogen Idec's unsolicited acquisition offer, made ahead of last weekend (The Pharma Letter September 7) proposal and has concluded that it inadequate, noting that the bid of around $356 million is approximately the value of its cash, marketable securities and restricted cash.

"Facet Biotech has made significant progress since our spin-off from PDL less than a year ago. In particular, our daclizumab program has great potential to improve the lives of many patients with multiple sclerosis," said Facet's chief executive Faheem Hasnain. "In our collaboration with Biogen Idec, one of the leaders in the field of MS, we knew there would be a high clinical hurdle for Biogen Idec to take the drug forward into a Phase III clinical trial. It does not appear to be a coincidence that Biogen Idec made its acquisition proposal within weeks of our joint decision to begin a Phase III trial following a planned interim futility analysis, and at a time when the significance of this positive development has not been fully appreciated by the investment community."

Mr Hasnain continued: "Facet Biotech and our board of directors are committed to building value for all our stockholders. The proposal of $14.50 per share represents only the cash on our balance sheet and fails to attribute any value to daclizumab, or to the rest of our existing R&D pipeline and platform."

Facet says it has also developed a "stockholder rights plan", which is meant to guard against a takeover of the company.