BRIEF — Allergan out of the running for Shire

Ireland-headquartered drugmaker Allergan has ruled itself out of bidding for rare disease specialist Shire.

On Thursday,  Allergan announced that it was considering a bid but then promptly put out another statement saying that there would be no offer.

Allergan did say that it was continuing to evaluate a full range of potential strategic actions to create value for shareholders, such as divestitures, combinations and acquisitions.

Its decision not to bid for Shire leaves Japanese pharma major Takeda as the only known interested party.

Shire’s board has so far snubbed three takeover bids from Takeda, the largest of them worth £44 billion ($62 billion), but said that it would be open to further offers.