SAN FRANCISCO Jan 14 (Reuters) - Biogen expects

revenue from new launches to exceed its current sales by 2028

and does not feel the need to chase additional business

development deals, the company's CEO said.

"The view out there in the analyst community is that the

future of Biogen depends on the next deal that we do and that's

not a view that we share inside Biogen," CEO Chris Viehbacher

told Reuters in an interview on Monday during the annual JP

Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

Last Friday, Biogen offered to buy Sage Therapeutics ( SAGE )

, its marketing partner on a drug to treat postpartum

depression. Sage saw its share price fall around 76% last year

after a series of clinical setbacks.

Viehbacher declined to comment on the transaction, citing

legal restrictions.

Shares of Biogen have dropped about 42% over the last year.

"While the deal may make financial sense for Biogen, we think

it does little to change the narrative around the company, and

additional revenue-generating deals are needed to change the

company's growth profile," BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan

Seigerman said in a research note.

Viehbacher said Biogen as "gained conviction" on the

strength of its current pipeline, including amyloid-targeting

Alzheimer's drug Leqembi and BIIB080, an experimental drug that

targets tau, a different protein found in the brains of

Alzheimer's patients.

"We are doubling down in Alzheimer's," the CEO said, noting

that news is expected this year on an FDA filing for

subcutaneous Leqembi and use of the drug as maintenance therapy.

He acknowledged that Leqembi sales have not lived up to the

loftiest expectations, but said the trajectory is solid and the

company is shifting its marketing strategy to target

newly-diagnosed patients.

Viehbacher said Biogen also has late-stage studies underway

with felzartamab in rare immune-related indications including

kidney transplant patients and for experimental lupus drugs.

"It is hard to find assets worth paying for ... there is

still an expectation of some pretty high premiums in the

market," he said.

The CEO said Biogen has "teams of people" at the healthcare

conference this week. At last year's meeting, those teams looked

at 100 companies and ended up doing two deals: a collaboration

to explore molecular glue degraders with Neomorph and the

acquisition of Human Immunology Biosciences.