Elan sell rating unchanged by Merrill

Elan Corp. was kept with a sell rating by Merrill Lynch analyst Erica Whittaker on news that as expected, the Food and Drug Administration allowed Biogen IDEC/Elan's multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri to return to the market following voluntary withdrawal due to the serious side effect of fatal PML brain infection. The analyst acknowledges that if the FDA grants a broad label, there is some potential upside to its Tysabri sales forecasts for 2006 due to the large number of patients who may be waiting for the therapy to be reapproved. Merrill's Tysabri 2006 sales estimate assumes 5,000 to 6,000 patients treated by the end of the year compared to the 7,000 who started Tysabri in its first three months on the market. Shares of the Dublin, Ireland, pharmaceutical company were down 49 cents, or 3.10%, at $15.32 on volume of 35,229,000 shares versus the three-month running average of 10,779,000 shares. (NYSE: ELN)

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