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Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

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CNBC ON DIGG

Biogen Idec Goes To The Mat

Published: Wednesday, 3 Jun 2009 | 2:21 PM ET

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By: Mike Huckman
Reporter

AP
"No comment."

Before I give you the high-tension, high-drama, high-intrigue details of the Biogen Idec shareholder meeting, it's best to just right from the get-go to let you know a spokesperson for the biotech company said, "No comment," about what's going down.

Billionaire activist investor His reps think Carl Icahn is trying to get four of his people on the BIIB Board of Directors. they've won two seats and accuse BIIB of trying to change the outcome at the 11th hour by calling big institutional investors about their vote.

Icahn isn't here. But three times one of his guys got up in the middle of the shareholder meeting and asked for the polls to be closed. Each time he was shot down.

There was an early indication BIIB [BIIB Loading... () ] might be employing stall tactics. The head of research and development got up and took a super deep dive into Biogen Idec's drug pipeline. It was the kind of detail you'd expect to hear at an analyst meeting. Usually these guys get up and simply give investors a view from 35,000 feet of what's in the hopper. This was dense...and boring for most of the shareholders (not to mention reporters) in the room. One reporter referred to it as a filibuster.

I mean, we're here to cover the proxy battle with Icahn. Let's get on with it.

After the R&D thing, the company announced there'd be a five-minute break. Then they came back and said the meeting would be in recess until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. What?! Now, this is gettin' good.

Icahn's people almost immediately filed a court motion to close the polls and invalidate any votes that were changed or cast after their first request this morning to stop the voting.

Icahn and Eastbourne Capital just won two seats on the Amylin [AMLN Loading... () ] board and ousted the chairman and lead independent director. My guess is he's probably feeling like he could be on a roll here.