AstraZeneca approached Gilead Sciences for a merger: Bloomberg report

A Bloomberg report reveals that AstraZeneca has approached Gilead Sciences about a potential merger.

Reportedly, AstraZeneca contacted Gilead last month and it did not provide the terms of any transaction.

While Gilead has discussed the merger idea with advisors, no decision has been made on how to proceed and the companies are not in formal talks, informs the report.

However, it also informs that Gilead is not interested in selling to or merging with another big pharma company, and would prefer to focus its deal strategy on partnerships and smaller acquisitions.

Any deal would bring together two of the companies leading the drug industry’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.