CEO George Scangos said Biogen Inc. has "deliberately brought in a series of compounds and [is] conducting late-stage trials and things that are outside" of multiple sclerosis (MS) in order to keep the business growing. Thursday's reaction to first quarter earnings by the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm varied from "a solid start to the year and biotech earnings season" (Cowen and Co. analyst Eric Schmidt) to "good enough is the theme right now" (RBC Capital Markets' Michael Yee). Piper Jaffray's Joshua Schimmer observed drily: "Lower spending, otherwise same Biogen."