Michael E. Lytton has been appointed executive vice president, business and corporate development, Biogen Idec. Mr. Lytton will be responsible for leading the company's business development activities.
 
"Michael brings more than 25 years of business development, investment and legal experience in the biotechnology industry,” said Biogen Idec chief operating officer Hans Peter Hasler. “His M&A background, as well as his experience in identifying and translating promising science into successful companies, makes him uniquely qualified to build on our track record of highly disciplined and productive business development.”

For the past eight years, Mr. Lytton served as a general partner at Oxford Bioscience Partners, a venture capital firm that provides assistance to emerging life sciences companies. During his tenure, Mr. Lytton led investments in a range of therapeutic areas, including central nervous system disorders, inflammatory diseases and oncology. He worked with management and boards of portfolio companies to drive growth through restructurings, M&A and exits through sales to larger companies. From 1993 to 2000, he was partner, chairman of the Technology Group, and a member of the Executive Committee of Palmer & Dodge LLP, a Boston-based law firm.