Amgen emerges frontrunner in Horizon deal as Sanofi drops bid
(Reuters) -Amgen Inc is in superior talks to purchase biotech firm Horizon Therapeutics Plc, the Wall Road Journal reported on Sunday, whereas rival bidder French well being group Sanofi introduced it had dropped its bid.
A deal for Amgen to purchase the corporate could possibly be finalised by Monday assuming the talks don’t collapse, the Journal report added. Amgen and Horizon didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for feedback.
Final month, Horizon Therapeutics – which has a market capitalization of about $22 billion – had stated it was in talks with Amgen Inc, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen International Providers unit, all three of which have been energetic in deal-making this 12 months.
Sanofi stated on Sunday that it was not in discussions with Horizon and doesn’t intend to make a proposal for it.
“Transaction value expectations don’t meet our worth creation standards,” Sanofi stated in an announcement.
Janssen additionally pulled out of the race final week saying that it doesn’t intend to make a proposal for Horizon. Horizon, which makes medication for uncommon autoimmune and extreme inflammatory ailments, expects over $4 billion in international annual peak gross sales for its largest drug Tepezza, which is used to deal with thyroid eye illness.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in BengaluruEditing by Peter Graff)
