Biogen Idec (BIIB) is a biotechnology company that has a focus on treatments for Multiple Sclerosis and Hemophilia. Shares of Biogen are up 7% after hours after the company reported positive earnings news, beating out analyst expectations. Biogen's net income in the 4th quarter of 2014 was $882.6 million, which is much higher than the $457.3 million net income in Q4  2013. The revenue increased as much as 40% to $9.3 billion  for 2014. Analysts now predict that Biogen will be able to increase revenue in 2015  to $11.22 billion. This huge earnings beat is in large part thanks to the company's Multiple Sclerosis drug Tecfidera, which helped increase overall revenues by 34% in the Q4 2014.

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord -- central nervous system. The body's own immune system attacks the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerves of the brain and spinal cord causing inflammation. This damages the nerve cells which in turn causes a slowing of nerve signals throughout the body which leads to other problems. Such problems include: muscle spasms, weakness in legs, problems walking, numbness and loss of balance. Tecfidera was approved by the FDA in March 2013 as first-line treatment for MS patients because of the excellent efficacy it had obtained in two large clinical trials. For the full year 2014, Tecfidera revenues were $2.9B, of which $916M was in Q4, an increase of 81%.

Biogen has been doing so well that it plans to also add 100 new jobs at its operation center in Research Triangle Park. The company continues to be the leader in MS treatments and we believe that the share price will continue to climb higher in the coming months.