AstraZeneca stays silent as reports link it to $9.9 billion Medivation takeover

18 April 2016

Anglo-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has declined comment on reports linking it with a $9.9 billion takeover of US biotech firm Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN).

British newspaper The Sunday Times has cited sources which claim AstraZeneca has held internal talks about a bid for the company, which focuses on cancer treatment drugs. The report states that AstraZeneca has yet to make a formal offer and another British newspaper, The Telegraph, has questioned whether it would be interested.

The Telegraph’s report reasons that AstraZeneca has previously avoided bidding wars so might be unlikely to compete with other rumoured interested parties, such as Switzerland’s Roche (ROG: SIX) and the French company Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), which reportedly had an unsolicited approach snubbed by the Medivation board last week.

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