(New York) The South Korean conglomerate Samsung is currently negotiating the possible acquisition of the American laboratory Biogen, specializing in particular in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the newspaper said on Wednesday Korea Economic Daily.
It was the American company that offered to sell Samsung its shares at a price valuing it at US $ 42 billion, the daily writes, citing sources close to banking negotiations.
Biogen stock surged after the mid-session article appeared, ending up 9.5% on Wall Street at a valuation of $ 38 billion.
Contacted by AFP, the American company replied that it would “not comment on market rumors and / or speculation”.
If the talks are successful, this would be the largest acquisition for Samsung since the buyout for US $ 8 billion of the American supplier Harman.
The South Korean conglomerate is best known for its subsidiary Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker.
But it also manages biopharmaceutical activities through its subsidiaries Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis.
Founded in 1978 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Biogen specializes in the development of treatments for neurological diseases.
Its turnover was US $ 13.4 billion in 2020 for a net profit of US $ 4 billion.
The company made headlines this year when it received the green light from US health authorities in June to market the first approved treatment for Alzheimer’s disease since 2003.
This decision was controversial because the US drug agency FDA had gone against the opinion of a committee of experts who had ruled that the treatment had not sufficiently demonstrated its effectiveness in clinical trials. .
Sales have so far not taken off, health professionals remaining hesitant to prescribe the expensive drug, sold at 56,000 dollars per year.