Biogen Idec (BIIB) Deals with JCV

Biogen Idec (BIIB) reported Q3 numbers and held its analyst conference call Tuesday, October 26, 2010. Despite some headwinds revenues rose 5% from Q3 2009. A lot of the value in Biogen lies in the future, in the big, fat Biogen therapy pipeline.

Biogen Idec is my favorite type of stock: a growth and value proposition, with just enough danger to keep me on my toes and keep the risk-adverse (apparently just about everyone right now) away. I own Biogen stock.

Right now Biogen has three big money makers: Avonex, Tysabri, and Rituxan. Avonex and Tysabri are both for multiple sclerosis (MS). In total they generated $847 million in revenue in the quarter. They face twin dangers: the JC virus (JCV), which causes PML, and newer therapies, most notably Gilenya. Can Biogen continue to grow profits while waiting for its future therapies to bear fruit? If so, it is vastly undervalued, because it has a trailing P/E ratio today of about 13. Seen as a growth stock it should climb not just because of climbing earnings per share (EPS), but because the P/E ratio should climb to closer to 25 to 30.

A cure for JCV is not on the horizon, but for its MS patients, what Biogen needs is to be able to screen for the presense of the virus. Tysabri sales have been impacted by JCV, which is usually harmless unless the immune system is compromised. Since MS is a disease in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, cures for it involve suppressing the immune system. In (very approximately) about 1 in 1000 patients receiving Tysabri, JCV gets out of control, which can lead to PML and death. After withdrawing Tysabri from the market when this was originally discovered, it is now back on the market and patients must be monitored for symptoms of PML.

Trials have now showed that about half of MS patients do not harbor JCV, so they should be able to take Tysabri with minimal danger. As to the half that do harbor JCV, it would appear that they now have a 2 in 1000 chance of developing PML. Given how effective Tysabri is for MS, the likely scenario is that after the FDA approves Biogen's screening test for JCV, they will lose some JCV positive patients, but gain a lot more JCV negative patients. That could happen in 2011, but timing is up to the FDA and its equivalent international bodies.

The other threat is oral MS therapies, which are far more convenient for patients and doctors than the current infused therapies like Avonex and Tysabri. The first approved is Gilenya. Biogen claims data shows Tysabri is more effective than Gilenya, so the new drug will go mostly to patients with early, mild MS. But you never no what will happen in the marketplace. Biogen management did not say so, but sadly in the marketplace physicians can charge more for infusions than they can for writing prescriptions for oral therapies.

What I think is going to happen is that Gilenya will cut into the MS pie, but Avonex and Tysabri will continue to be widely prescribed. Patients often rotate therapies, changing them as their disease progresses. Also note that Avonex and Tysabri are still being introduced in many nations, so international sales increases should more than make up for any erosion in the U.S. market.

So for the next few years Biogen's cash from operations, $420 million in Q3 alone, is reasonably assured. Not every therapy in the Biogen pipeline will win FDA approval or become a blockbuster. But so many therapies are in the pipeline that already have good Phase I or Phase II data, I am reasonably confident that in 5 years Biogen will be a much larger company. Risks there are, as I have indicated; don't ignore them, spread them out.

See also:

Q3 2010 Biogen Idec analyst call summary including questions from analysts
Biogen Idec Hemophilia Therapies
Gilenya, Biogen Idec, and MS

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