Biogen

aka Biogen Inc., Biogen Idec, IDEC Pharmaceuticals

Biogen is the Massachusetts biotech that, as Biogen Idec, co-developed rituximab, the first antibody approved for cancer; it now concentrates on neurology.

Biogen, founded in 1978 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, merged with IDEC Pharmaceuticals in 2003 to form Biogen Idec. IDEC had developed rituximab (Rituxan) with Genentech, the anti-CD20 antibody approved in 1997 for follicular lymphoma, and Biogen Idec led lymphoma trials for it and for the radiolabelled antibody ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin). The company later returned to the Biogen name and focuses on neurological and rare diseases; its phase 3 cancer trials on ClinicalTrials.gov date from the lymphoma era.

Headquarters

Cambridge, MA, US

Scorecard

All companies

#64of 846 companies, score 47

approved products +6
targets +2
modalities +2
regions +7
registry trials +30

1 approved, 0 in phase 3, 0 earlier, 1 targets, 2,030 registry studies. Formula on the scorecards page.

Type

biotech

Stage

Public

Website

www.biogen.com

Founded

1978

Products

1top

ApprovedMonoclonal antibody (anti-CD20, chimeric)

Rituximab · Rituxan / MabThera (and biosimilars)

Rituximab was the first antibody ever approved for cancer (1997). It made chemoimmunotherapy the CLL standard for a decade, and biosimilars keep it cheap and everywhere.