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AstraZeneca has approached Gilead Sciences about a massive merger that would combine two companies leading the pharmaceutical industry’s battle against the coronavirus, a report says. The British drugmaker reached out to California-based Gilead last month about whether it would be interested in merging, Bloomberg News reported Sunday. But there are no formal talks and Gilead …
AstraZeneca has approached Gilead Sciences about a massive merger that would combine two companies leading the pharmaceutical industry’s battle against the coronavirus, a report says.
The British drugmaker reached out to California-based Gilead last month about whether it would be interested in merging, Bloomberg News reported Sunday. But there are no formal talks and Gilead is not currently interested in merging with another large firm, the story said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The tie-up would be the health care industry’s largest ever, according to Bloomberg. AstraZeneca was worth about $140 billion as of Friday, while Gilead had a market value of roughly $96 billion.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation. Gilead did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.
The report comes amid efforts from both companies to develop drugs to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people worldwide.
AstraZeneca plans to manufacture a vaccine that University of Oxford researchers are developing with backing from the Trump administration. The feds ordered 300 million doses of the shot last month and committed up to $1.2 billion to speed its development and production.
US officials have also approved Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir for emergency use in certain COVID-19 patients. Research has shown that the treatment has helped people recover from the virus faster.
But industry analysts say a mega-merger of the two companies is unlikely given the potential for political opposition in both the UK and the US, Bloomberg reported. There are also strategic questions about the deal as AstraZeneca has a strong product pipeline while Gilead is going through a turnaround, according to the news service.
The “US government would likely try to block any acquisition of a major US biopharma company that is involved in pandemic therapeutic development,” Citi analyst Andrew Baum told Bloomberg.
Gilead shares were nonetheless up 4.5 percent on the news at $80.20 as of 7:39 a.m. Monday, while AstraZeneca’s US-listed stock was recently down 2.3 percent at $52.60.
