Biogen Idec left 2014 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling approximately $3.3 billion and has begun 2015 with multiple collaborations. The company expects to continue to bolster its R&D capabilities in the coming months.

In January 2015, Biogen Idec agreed to acquire U.K.-based Convergence Pharmaceuticals. Convergence is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with an innovative portfolio of ion channel-modulating product candidates for neuropathic pain including CNV1014802, a product candidate being developed for trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic orphan disease.

Biogen Idec and Columbia University Medical Center have formed a $30 million strategic alliance to conduct genetics discovery research on the underlying causes of disease and to identify new treatment approaches.

In January, Biogen Idec and Google[x] Life Sciences began a partnership to explore drivers of multiple sclerosis disease progression through investigational technologies and methods, such as novel sensor platforms, advanced laboratory science and bio-analytical tools.

Biogen Idec and San Raffaele Hospital also have entered into a worldwide collaboration to jointly develop gene therapies for the treatment of both hemophilia A and B. The agreement will combine San Raffaele Hospital’s extensive experience in creating vectors that deliver genetic material to cells with Biogen Idec’s understanding of hemophilia biology to potentially treat the underlying causes of hemophilia A and B.