AstraZeneca mulling making a bid for America´s Medivation

AstraZeneca was mulling joining the fray for US drug outfit Medivation, according to a report published over the weekend.

Just at the start of last week the American company, which markets a blockbuster treatment for prostate cancer, saw off another hostile take-over attempt from France´s Sanofi.

However, after three months fighting off those approaches Medivation afterwards decided to 'open its books' to Pfizer and Sanofi and was said to still be courting other potential bidders, according to sources close to the sales process cited by The Sunday Times.

Shares in Medivation closed 1.02% lower at $62.05 in Nasdaq trading on 8 July, giving the drug developer a market capitalisation of $10.25bn.

Nonetheless, while AstraZeneca was "understood" to retain an interest - having checked it out earlier in 2016 - no formal bid had been tabled, The Sunday Times said.

Medivation was described as having several promising treatments in its pipeline but none was expected to reach the market over the the next year; hence, in the short-term its earnings would come under pressure.