By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Biogen stock (NASDAQ:BIIB) traded 6% lower in Thursday’s premarket after Samsung Biologics (KS:207940) scotched media reports that it is buying the American biotech company.
Korea Economic Daily reported Wednesday that Biogen had approached Samsung to buy its shares, which could be valued at more than $42 billion. Biogen stock surged 9.5% on the news and closed the day with a market cap of almost $38 billion.
The biotech unit of Samsung Group said in a regulatory filing that the report was "not true".
Any such deal would be the biggest overseas acquisition ever by a South Korean company, easily eclipsing Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) Co Ltd (KS:005930) $8 billion acquisition of auto electronics maker Harman International Industries in 2016.
Earlier this month, Biogen nearly halved the prices of its Alzheimer’s drug aduhelm to $28,200 per year for an average weight person.
The cut came as sales have been slow to take off because of the high-cost treatment. Many hospitals have refused to support the treatment.
On June 7, aduhelm became the first drug in 18 years to secure the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s nod for treatment of patients suffering from the neurodegenerative disease.
The company now believes with insurance coverage, and access to diagnostics and specialized centers, approximately 50,000 patients may initiate treatment with aduhelm in 2022.