Shares of The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) are up 18.6% at 12:19 p.m. EST after Bloomberg reported that the drugmaker had gotten interest from potential acquirers, including Novartis (NYSE: NVS).
A potential suitor would be after The Medicines Company's cholesterol-lowering drug inclisiran, which posted solid phase 3 results this week. The company plans to file a marketing application with the Food and Drug Administration before the end of the year and then file in Europe at the beginning of next year.
The acquisition wouldn't come cheap. Even before today's move, The Medicines Company had tripled this year and now sits at a market cap over $5.5 billion. At five times sales, there's already $1 billion in sales baked into the drug.