The biotech rejected Carl’s proposed directors, setting up a proxy fight over who sits on its board, The Boston Globe reports. A Biogen Idec spokeswoman tells the paper that the current board interviewed Icahn’s three nominees, but decided they were unsuitable because they were committed to his “single-minded agenda to sell the company,” which would make it harder to attract talented employees and form partnerships.

The move comes three months after Icahn announced he would seek three board seats and four months after the biotech was unable to find a buyer and ended an auction, despite interest from several large drugmakers, partly due to a huge run-up in its stock price after Icahn’s initial investment became known.

The company schedules staggered elections for its 12-member board, so only four seats are up for election this year. But if Icahn succeeds in persuading shareholders to approve his nominations, it could put him in position to win a majority of board seats next year. Icahn, who recently reported that he owned more than 4 percent of Biogen Idec shares, nominated one of his investment managers, Alexander Denner, and two Harvard Medical School professors, Richard Mulligan and Anne Young.

The biotech is backing three current board members - Cecil Pickett, Lynn Schenk and co-founder Phil Sharp - who are up for re-election. It also nominated Stelios Papadopoulos, a retired Cowen investment banker, to replace Tom Keller, who reached mandatory retirement age.