2015年3月23日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --生物技术巨头百健艾迪（Biogen Idec）昨日宣布，启用新的公司名称百健（Biogen）及新Logo。百健艾迪表示，这一变化反映了公司在这些年的演变以及对企业文化的传承和对患者及科学的承诺。该公司表示，经过12年的运营，百健艾迪已到达了另一个里程碑。
百健和艾迪的故事：百健（Biogen）与艾迪（Idec）于2003年完成了超过66亿美元的兼并，催生出全球第三大生物制药公司百健艾迪（Biogen Idec），新公司专注于神经系统疾病、自体免疫性疾病和癌症药物的开发。Idec在癌症方面具有强大的实力并逐渐着眼于自身免疫性疾病领域，Biogen则正好相反；在当时，双方的合并被认为对彼此的短期和长期利益均有利。
然而，在合并运营的12年来，百健艾迪在抗癌药研发领域少有建树，而在自身免疫性疾病和神经系统疾病领域收获颇丰，此次更名Biogen也是该公司调整战略方向传承原百健（Biogen）企业文化并进一步专注神经科学的标志。
百健首席执行官George Scangos于2010年走马上任，目前正领导公司向数个难以治疗的神经退行性疾病发起挑战，如阿尔茨海默氏症（AD）、ALS、脊髓型肌营养不良。当前，该领域存在着远未满足的医疗需求，如果哪家公司能够在该领域斩获一二，回报将相当巨大。
上周五，百健艾迪公布了阿尔茨海默氏症（AD）实验性药物BIIB037（aducanumab）一项Ib期临床研究的结果，数据远好于预期，受该利好消息刺激，该公司股价飙升8%。而百健也信心百倍，已计划在今年晚些时候启动III期项目。据相关数据，到2030年全球阿尔茨海默氏症（AD）患者总数将达到7500万。如果BIIB037获得成功，必将成为史上最畅销的药物。
Scangos表示，公司的未来前景相当诱人。如果BIIB037能够成功，百健将不仅仅是一个多发性硬化症（MS）公司。目前该公司正专注神经退行性疾病，而5年后，如果运气好的话，该公司将手握令所有制药巨头垂涎的AD药物。而届时，该公司在ALS和其他神经退行性疾病、脊髓型肌营养不良方面的儿科研究，也将取得实质性进展。这些都是该公司当前的关注焦点。
除了神经退行性疾病，该公司目前还致力于生物仿制药的开发，包括安进的Enbrel和强生的Remicade。
英文原文：Biogen Idec shortens name; CEO says drug candidates in neurodegenerative diseases could pay off big in five years
(Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc has seen its market value quadruple in three years to more than $100 billion on the back of its successful multiple sclerosis drugs. Now it has new ambitions in its sights.
The Massachusetts-based company, which made headlines last week when it announced better-than-expected clinical trial results for its experimental Alzheimer's drug, aducanumab, said that it will drop Idec from its name as of Monday and adopt a new logo. The company merged with Idec Pharmaceuticals more than a decade ago.
Chief Executive George Scangos says that going forward he will keep Biogen focused on developing drugs for some of the hardest-to-treat diseases.
"Five years down the road, with some luck, we'll have an Alzheimer's drug that's getting approved,” Scangos told Reuters. "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," he said.
"I am sure of two things," he added. "Not all of it is going to work, and some of it will."
Investors, excited by the aducanumab news, sent Biogen shares up 9.7 percent on Friday, and the company's stock touched an all-time high of $480.18 during the session.
The small trial showed the treatment significantly slowed cognitive impairment in patients with mild symptoms, a rare bit of good news in a field littered with high profile failures from the likes of Pfizer Inc and Eli Lilly and Co
But some patients, especially those with a gene predisposing them to Alzheimer's, developed localized brain swelling. The symptom was most common among patients with the gene who were receiving the highest doses of aducanumab, leading about 1/3 of the participants in that category to discontinue the treatment. The company said the swelling was generally "asymptomatic or with mild, transient symptoms."
Biogen plans to begin a larger trial later this year. "If they can replicate the Alzheimer's data in Phase III, they could conceivably have the biggest drug on the planet," JMP Securities analyst Michael King said. As many as 75 million people are expected to develop the disease by 2030.
For Biogen, which is also working on Alzheimer's drugs that use other mechanisms of action, research on dementia drugs represents an expansion of the company's potential reach.
"If the Alzheimer's thing works, then we're not just an MS company. We are broadly focused on neuro-degenerative diseases," Scangos said.
The company is also developing a drug it hopes will address not just symptoms but the cause of MS, potentially changing the way the disease is treated.
"The future looks pretty exciting for us," said Scangos, who became Biogen CEO in July 2010 following a period of upheaval in which activist investor Carl Icahn pushed for management changes and the sale of the company. Scangos, who previously led the tiny biotech firm Exelixis Inc, was recommended for the CEO post by Icahn lieutenants on the Biogen board.
BIGGER MOVE INTO BIOSIMILARS
As it works on new medicines for unmet needs, Biogen is also planning a bigger move into the fledgling field of biosimilars, manufacturing cheaper versions of older biotech drugs as they lose patent protection. Health regulators this month approved the first such drug for the U.S. market, a biosimilar version of Amgen Inc's white blood cell booster Neupogen.
Biogen previously disclosed plans to develop six biosimilar drugs in collaboration with Samsung. "We will expand that to include more," Scangos said.
It has filed for European approval of biosimilars of two blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drugs, Amgen's Enbrel and Johnson & Johnson's Remicade.
Scangos shrugged off the potential impact to Biogen of biosimilars that replicate its own products, even though such competition could result in far cheaper alternatives to its drugs.
"I view biosimilars as a good thing," he said. "When they come for our drugs, they come."
Biogen's ambitions are not without risk. The company saw a "spectacular failure," as Scangos put it, with a large trial of an ALS drug a few years ago, highlighting the challenge ahead.
"There was no effect at all," Scangos said. "We've gone back to the drawing board."