(Bloomberg) — Biogen Inc. shares fell after Samsung Group denied a Korean media report that the U.S. drugmaker was in talks to sell itself to the company.
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The stock fell 6.7% at 9:56 a.m. in New York, erasing almost all of Wednesday’s gains that were spurred by an article from the Korea Economic Daily, which said that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company had approached Samsung about a takeover.
Biogen has struggled to push its controversial Alzheimer’s treatment in recent months. The company gained U.S. approval for the drug, Aduhelm, in June over the objections of experts who said there wasn’t enough clear evidence that it worked. Since then, patients and payers have balked at the treatment’s cost and the scientific debate.
A deal for Biogen, with a market value of almost $38 billion, would top the $34 billion Medline Industries Inc. transaction, now the second-biggest acquisition of 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
There are existing ties between the U.S. biotech and the Seoul conglomerate. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen focused on making low-cost biosimiliars.
Samsung Biologics said in a regulatory filing Thursday that the report wasn’t true. A representative for Biogen had declined to comment on market rumors and speculation.
(Updates shares in second paragraph.)
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