Elan No blarney

Elan’s $700m debt burden always looked onerous, but it now appears crushing. The Irish biotech was a heavily geared punt on the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. But the drug has now been linked to three cases of the extremely rare disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), two of which have been fatal. The chance the drug will ever make it back to the market must be close to zero. This has hammered Elan’s stock, with the group’s market capitalisation having shrunk by close to 90% ...