Merging is the easy part

With a thin pipeline and maturing growth for its blockbuster product, it was clear that Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. needed to do something on the in-licensing front to maintain its growth. What was not obvious, however, was that IDPH would combine stables with Biogen Inc., a company that has been facing the same structural hurdles.

Thus, the challenges of the merged company are quite similar to the ones each faced independently: increasing scientific productivity, putting another big product on the map, and providing EPS growth that separates them from their peers. As the scientific productivity will play out over several years, investors will focus on near-term EPS growth as a measure of the merger's success. ...