AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb do not have any ongoing discussions about a potential deal, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing a senior source close to the matter.
“There is no deal between AstraZeneca and BMS. There never was a deal to be done, and there are no discussions between the companies,” the person said, as quoted by Reuters.
The development comes after the Financial Times reported Sunday that AZ was in talks to combine with BMS. A merger would create a new pharmaceutical giant valued at nearly $400 billion.
News of the unconfirmed deal talks drew major investor pushback on AZ’s side, with the British drugmaker’s stock sliding nearly 9% following the Financial Times report. The company’s London-listed shares rebounded about 3% Wednesday after Reuters reported that no discussions were underway.
By comparison, BMS’ shares dropped about 3% Wednesday morning.
Between the two businesses, AZ has projected revenue to grow from $55.6 billion in 2025 to $80 billion in 2030, although its sales trajectory beyond that time point is less clear. BMS faces a tougher outlook as its two top-selling drugs, Eliquis and Opdivo, are losing patent protection soon. Together, revenues from the two meds made up nearly 54% of BMS’ total in the second quarter.
Analysts had expressed skepticism about the rumored deal. A combination of AZ and BMS would likely face intense antitrust scrutiny and disrupt R&D timelines during integration.
Besides, the move shook investors’ confidence in AZ’s much-touted $80 billion revenue goal, raising doubts about whether management was putting on a bold front while secretly panicking.
“Of course financial accretion can look good and maybe more cash generation would allow for more R&D. But if there is one company that doesn’t need financial engineering, it’s AZ in our view,” Jefferies’ analysts wrote in an Aug. 3 note.
“How much overlap is on the combined portfolio? Also, many programs will be ‘deprioritized’. Finally, the inevitable disruption of R&D and loss of key personnel will slow things down,” John LaMattina, a senior partner at PureTech Health, who was formerly president of Pfizer global R&D, wrote about the prospect of an AZ-BMS combination in a LinkedIn post Wednesday.
In a previous post, LaMattina suggested that a merger would put the two firms’ R&D organizations in “turmoil for at least 18 months.”