Actelion Could Succumb To Big Pharma's Charms

News that Europe’s largest biotech Actelion is in preliminary discussions with Johnson & Johnson about a transaction has been viewed favourably by investors, and could see the return of mega-merger activity to other big pharma companies.

Switzerland’s Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has been a reluctant M&A target in the past, unmoved by unconfirmed approaches from several big pharma companies that most recently included Shire PLC in 2015, but this time around worries about growing competition to its key pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) therapies might make it more receptive to a deep-pocketed suitor.

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