Peter wirth genzyme ms drug

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn makes a good case in his battle to install new directors on Genzyme (GENZ)'s board, but his argument is weakest on the one point where it needs to be strongest: The future of Campath, Genzyme's blood cancer drug that could also be an multiple sclerosis blockbuster.

You can read Icahn's slideshow here.

It's entertaining stuff, right down to the choice of typefaces (it begins with the words "Time to Change the Old Guard," with the last two words picked out in "ye olde" lettering.) But Icahn is late to the game: Genzyme has had its materials out to shareholders for weeks, and it also added a new web site dedicated to the fight.

Everything Icahn says about Genzyme's manufacturing failures is true: The company allowed its cell production lines to become infected, and the FDA stopped production and allowed competing genetic therapies onto the market in their place, breaking Genzyme's lucrative monopolies.

But investors know that that's no