Biogen Idec has no buyer

After completing a sales process review and finding no "definitive offers to purchase the company," Biogen Idec will remain independent, the biotech firm says Dec. 12. Despite big pharma's growing interest in biotech, the announcement suggests that no drug makers were willing to pay what was sure to have been a hefty price tag to acquire the company, with a portfolio that includes Avonex (interferon beta-1a), Tysabri (natalizumab) and Rituxan (rituximab). With a market cap of more than $22 billion ahead of the announcement, Biogen Idec would have been one of the largest biotech acquisitions (1"The Pink Sheet" Oct. 22, 2007, In Brief)...