Biogen spat with SEC over accounting impacting other pharmas' quarterly reports - MarketWatch
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A series of letters sent from the SEC to Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) in 2021 has led to a change in the way pharmaceutical companies account for upfront payments made to support R&D with companies they have equity interests in, MarketWatch reported.
The change has impacted the quarterly results of several pharmas. With Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), and Merck (NYSE:MRK) recent earnings, it led to lower EPS.
In a March 2021 letter sent to Biogen CFO Michael McDonnell, the SEC took issue with a company 8-K filed on Feb. 3, 2021 that "excluded upfront payments and premiums paid for the acquisition of related common stock to arrive at non-GAAP R&D expense and non-GAAP net income attributable to Biogen (BIIB)."
In its response, Biogen (BIIB) said it excluded those payments from non-GAAP R&D expense "in order to better reflect our core operating performance." 
The SEC followed up with another letter criticizing the response, noting May 2016 guidance about the use of non-GAAP metrics. 
Biogen's recent Q1 2022 results were negatively impacted by a write-off related to Alzheimer's therapy Aduhelm (aducanumab).