Elan shareholders vote yes to share buyback proposal

Elan shareholders have unanimously voted in favour of the company’s share buyback plan, which will see nearly a third of the proceeds of its sale of multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri returned to investors.

Out of a total of 340m votes, 337.4m — or 99% of shareholders — were in favour of the special resolution, with just 2.6m against. Another 5.4m votes were withheld. The results of the vote were announced at the close of yesterday’s extraordinary general meeting on the matter at Dublin’s Westin Hotel.

Elan recently completed the sale of its 50% stake in Tysabri to its co-partner on the drug, US pharmaceutical firm Biogen Idec.