Its efforts to acquire Genzyme rebuffed in August, Sanofi-aventis has begun a hostile tender offer for the Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech, for the $69 per share ($18.5 billion) it originally offered. Sanofi notified Genzyme of its intentions in a 4 October letter in which CEO Christopher Viehbacher reiterated that “Genzyme would become the global center for excellence for Sanofi-aventis in rare diseases” and would be managed as a stand-alone division, retaining the Genzyme brand. Genzyme's board recommended that shareholders reject the offer, labeling it “inadequate and opportunistic” and saying it “fails to recognize the company's plan to increase shareholder value.” In May, Genzyme articulated a five-point plan, which includes rectifying manufacturing problems, which had led to censure by the US Food and Drug Administration (Nat. Biotechnol. 28, 388, 2010), and disposing of non-core assets including its genetic testing services (sold to LabCorp of Durham, North Carolina, in September). Genzyme also said the offer fails to reflect the value of its pipeline, in particular, the development of its leukemia drug Campath (alemtuzumab) as a “potentially transformative” treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). Genzyme reported follow-up data from its phase 2 study comparing the drug to high-dose interferon beta 1a, showing that, Campath treatment resulted in lower relapse rates and less increase in disability.