Elan shares rise 4% after Tysabri breach resolved

SHARES in Irish pharmaceutical firm Elan rose 20c, or nearly 4%, yesterday after it successfully fixed its Tysabri collaboration breach with Biogen Idec, by renegotiating its equity sale deal with Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

This is despite the new deal meaning that J&J will actually end up paying significantly less for its 18.4% than initially agreed.

In July, it was announced J&J would invest $1.5 billion (€1.02bn) in Elan — giving it 18.4% of the company and a 50.1% share of Elan’s alzheimer’s immunotherapy programme (AIP). Of that, $1bn was for the 18.4% stake in the company and the remaining $500m for the Alzheimer’s stake.