UPDATE 4-Biogen cuts Tysabri outlook; reports new PML case

* Biogen net profit up 3 pct to $207 mln, 70 cents/shr

* Sees 2009 non-GAAP EPS above $4.00, GAAP EPS above $2.80

* Reports new case of PML brain infection

* Shares fall 2.4 pct (Recasts; adds CFO comment, Icahn board nominees)

By Toni Clarke

BOSTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc (BIIB.O) scaled back growth projections for its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri on Friday and said another patient has developed the potentially deadly brain infection known as PML.

Biogen reported higher fourth-quarter earnings but sales of Tysabri fell short of expectations and the company's shares fell more than 3.5 percent.

Biogen Chief Executive Officer Jim Mullen told analysts on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call that it will be "difficult" to achieve the company's previous forecast that 100,000 patients will be taking Tysabri by the end of 2010.

In addition, the company reported a new case of progressive multifocal leukoecephalopathy, or PML, a potentially deadly brain infection that has curbed the drug's sales.

Tysabri, which the company markets with Elan Corp Plc (ELN.N) (ELN.I) of Ireland, was temporarily withdrawn from the market in 2005 after it was linked with PML but reintroduced in July 2006 with stricter safety warnings. The newest case is the fifth since it was reintroduced and was contracted by a patient in Europe.

Biogen, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported fourth-quarter earnings that were in line with expectations. Net earnings rose 3 percent to $207 million, or 70 cents a share, from $201.2 million, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items the company earned 93 cents a share, a penny more than analysts on Wall Street had been expecting, according to a poll by Reuters Estimates. Revenue rose to $1.07 billion from $893.3 million.

Sales of Tysabri, however, were $218 million, far short of the consensus estimate of $250 million.

"Tysabri sales numbers are going from bad to worse," said Corey Davis, an analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder, in a research note. "We anticipate that the sales forecasts will now have to dip below $1 billion for 2009."

The dismal Tysabri sales, which Biogen Chief Financial Officer Paul Clancy said were affected in part by unfavorable currency fluctuations, offset any optimism investors may have had that the company might be acquired.

Biogen said in a separate statement that it received a notice from activist investor Carl Icahn that Icahn Partners LP and certain affiliates will nominate four directors to the company's board. The company said it would review the notice "and consider it in the light of the best interests of all shareholders."

Last year Icahn lost a proxy fight to place three members onto Biogen's board in a bid to push the company to sell itself. He argued that Biogen had deliberately sabotaged a previous attempt at a sale by not allowing potential buyers to talk to partners Elan or Genentech Inc DNA.N.

But investors don't appear to be betting anyone is going to buy Biogen any time soon.

"Tysabri trends are troubling," said Christopher Raymond, an analyst at Robert W. Baird. "We are hard-pressed to see a strategic buyer stepping in."

Biogen said it expects 2009 earnings excluding one-time items to be above $4 a share. Analysts had forecast $3.63 a share.

The company said it expects revenue growth at a high single-digit percentage rate for the year.

Biogen's shares fell 2.4 percent to $51.99 on Nasdaq at mid-afternoon on Friday. (Reporting by Toni Clarke; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman, Richard Chang)