Pfizer, Sanofi, J&J may be among Biogen bidders

By Ben Hirschler and Toni Clarke

LONDON/BOSTON (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc (BIIB.O), which has put itself up for sale, may get bids of around $25-30 billion from several of the world's top drugmakers keen to expand in the hot area of biotech medicine.

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), Sanofi-Aventis SA (SASY.PA) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) could all use the U.S. company to gain scale in protein and antibody drug manufacturing, sales and research, bankers and industry analysts said on Monday.

Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX), however, may be less interested -- despite its collaboration with Biogen on cancer drug MabThera/Rituxan -- since it already has a major presence in biotech medicine production.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L), another player with a potential appetite, is also probably not in the running, as it focuses on other priorities, some industry experts said.

Roche's Swiss rival, Novartis AG (NOVN.VX), has been seen by some analysts as a possible buyer, but it has a competing presence in multiple sclerosis which could rule it out.

Officials at all the firms declined to comment.

"A number of big companies have said recently they don't think they are big enough in biotech yet, so I would think there will be quite a lot of interest," said Paul Diggle of Nomura Code Securities.

Acquiring Biogen will not be cheap, however.

The unexpectedly rich price of $15.6 billion paid for U.S. biotech firm MedImmune by AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) earlier this year -- equivalent to 11 times annual sales -- showed big pharma's appetite for biotech assets. That same high valuation would value Biogen at about $34 billion.

In practice, analysts believe threats to Biogen's core multiple sclerosis (MS) franchise from new products and the risk of biogeneric competition to its established MS drug Avonex in the years ahead mean a lowlier rating is justified.

TYSABRI WILD CARD

On the plus side, new MS drug Tysabri is now seen by some analysts as a potential multibillion-dollar-a-year seller. Biogen collaborates on the drug with Elan Corp (ELN.I).

"The key variable in the take-out price is the outlook for Tysabri," said Geoffrey Porges, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, who sees Biogen fetching $85 to $100 a share.

Investors are clearly anticipating a keen tussle, with Biogen shares rising 18.8 percent on Nasdaq on Monday to $82.51, valuing the business at around $23 billion.

The prize offered Biogen is a bridgehead into the biological medicines market, where growth is faster and margins higher than in traditional pharmaceuticals.