Astrazeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb Discussed a $400 Billion Megadeal
According to a person familiar with the matter, AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N) had preliminary talks about a potential merger that would create one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with a combined value of nearly $400 billion.
The revelation was initially reported by The Financial Times. Reuters was unable to ascertain whether the negotiations are still in progress.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that a possible deal would carry regulatory risk due to worries about how it may be evaluated by U.S. antitrust regulators under President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump has been concentrating on growing American manufacturing and domestic investments in the industry.
In order to take advantage of higher valuations in the U.S. market, AstraZeneca announced plans for a straight U.S. listing last year. However, this would effectively mean that a UK-based business would be purchasing a major U.S. pharmaceutical giant.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by Bristol Myers, while AstraZeneca declined to comment.
During Pascal Soriot’s 14 years as CEO, AstraZeneca’s share price has more than doubled, surpassing both its primary British rival GSK (GSK.L) and the broader FTSE 100 index.
Strong demand for cancer and rare-disease medications continues to fuel AstraZeneca’s expansion, according to last week’s second-quarter earnings.
Nearly half of all sales in 2025 came from cancer treatments, which brought in approximately $25 billion. Cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic medicines came in second with around $12 billion.
In the first half of 2026, almost 40% of Bristol Myers’ total revenues were oncology medications, and the two businesses’ cancer immunotherapies are in direct competition.
Due to dwindling sales of older medications, some of which will shortly face generic competition, Bristol Myers has been making smaller transactions to acquire new products.