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The U.S. biotechnology company has offered about $116.5 for each Horizon share, according to the report, citing a person familiar with the matter. The offer is at about a 20% premium to Horizon’s closing price of $97.29 on Friday.
Sanofi said on Sunday that it no longer intends to make an offer for Horizon. “Transaction price expectations do not meet our value creation criteria,” Sanofi said in a statement.
Janssen also pulled out of the race last week, saying that it does not intend to make an offer for Horizon, leaving Amgen as the frontrunner.
Last month, Horizon – which has a market capitalization of about $22 billion – had said it was in talks with Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s Janssen Global Services unit, all three of whom have been active in deal-making this year.
The takeover would give Amgen access to to Ireland-based Horizon’s pipeline of drugs, including its blockbuster treatment Tepezza used for treating thyroid eye disease and its second- largest drug Krystexxa, used for the treatment of gout that is not controlled by other medicines.
Horizon has estimated more than $4 billion in global annual peak sales for Tepezza and over $1.5 billion in peak U.S. annual sales of Krystexxa.
Amgen also acquired ChemoCentryx (NASDAQ:CCXI) Inc for $3.7 billion to gain access to a potential blockbuster treatment for inflammatory disorders.
Amgen and Horizon did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that Amgen is in advanced talks to buy Horizon.
