Biogen Inc.shares jumped by the most since the company’s Alzheimer’s disease treatment was approved in the U.S. this spring, after a Korean media report that it was in talks to sell itself to Samsung Group.
The Korea Economic Daily reported, citing unnamed sources, that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company had approached the Seoul conglomerate about a takeover.
A representative for Biogen said that the company doesn’t comment on market rumors and speculation. A spokesperson for Samsung Biologics Co., a biotech unit of the Samsung Group, said the story was a rumor and declined to comment further.
Biogen’s stock gained as much as 13%, the biggest intraday advance since June 7, before ending the day up 9.5% at $258.31.
A deal for Biogen, with a market value of $38 billion after Wednesday’s jump, would top the $34 billion Medline Industries Inc. transaction, now the second-biggest acquisition of 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
With a typical premium, a Biogen acquisition would likely approach or surpass Discovery Inc.’s $43 billion deal for Warner Media LLC that was announced in May, the data show.
Biogen gained approval for its Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm in June over the objections of experts who said there wasn’t enough clear evidence that it worked. Since then, the drug has struggled to gain momentum as patients and payers balked at the scientific debate and the treatment’s $56,000-a-year cost. Biogen has since cut the drug’s price in half.
There are existing ties between the companies. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen focused on making low-cost biosimiliars. Its version of macular degeneration treatment Lucentis was approved in the U.S. in September.
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