By 1985 Biogen was using an estimated $100,000 each day in research costs. Furthermore, royalty revenues had slid to less than $20 million annually because the company had sold some of its patents. Biogen investors were fed up; the company's directors had already, in fact, pulled Gilbert from the chief executive slot and had been searching for a replacement for more than a year. Finally, in 1985, they hired James L. Vincent. Vincent graduated from Duke University, where he had been recruited to play football but did not because of a neck injury. He earned his M.B.A.