If Novartis Buys Elan's Tysabri and MS Drug, There Won't Be Much Elan Left

(MoneyWatch)  If Novartis was to buy the Tysabri and bapineuzumab parts of Elan, as suggested in this Reuters report (via the Sunday Times), what, exactly, would be left? Just Prialt (revenues $3.8 million per quarter), Azactam, ($24.2 million) and Maxipime ($10.1 million).

With the marketing and infrastructure pieces of Tysabri and bapi transferred to Novartis, the remaining brands look rather less like a functioning drug company. With less than $40 million in revenues per quarter remaining, will it be enough to fund the corporate jets and management offices in California, Pennsylvania and Ireland, given the consequent loss of scale?

CEO Kelly Martin's salary would instantly become a significant percentage of the remaining company's net income.

Of course, it may all be rumor. We already saw Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Lundbeck allegedly circling Elan, and none of them bit -- yet.

The other remaining mystery: how does any acquirer take a majority of the company without triggering the rights of partners Wyeth and Biogen to take outright both bapi and Tysabri?

• Previous BNET coverage of Elan:
• Elan-Pfizer Deal Rumor Is Deja Vu All Over Again
• Elan Stock Keeps Rising Despite Denial of BMS Takeover
• Elan Silent on Corporate Jets as 230 Are Laid Off
• Elan Management Creates Self-Enrichment Plan as Pfizer-Wyeth Deal Threatens Bapineuzumab
• Elan Chairman: "We're Qualified Managers Because We're Irish"
• Elan Sees Problems on Alzheimer's Drug; Puts Itself Up for Sale
• Elan "Poison Pill" Deal With Biogen Prevents Rumored Pfizer Takeover
• Elan's Pennsylvania Lawyer Once Again Makes News

Image by Flickr user blmurch, CC.