AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb in talks on $400 billion pharma merger, FT reports

The talks

AstraZeneca has been exploring a combination with US rival Bristol Myers Squibb, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. The companies have held discussions about a tie-up in recent months. A deal could materialise soon, the people said, but they cautioned it may also be delayed or fall apart entirely.

AstraZeneca declined to comment. Bristol Myers Squibb did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

Scale of the deal

The combined entity would be worth nearly $400 billion, making any deal among the largest mergers of all time. AstraZeneca currently has a market valuation of about £196 billion (roughly $264 billion), while Bristol Myers Squibb is worth roughly $133 billion. AstraZeneca is the second most valuable publicly listed company in the United Kingdom.

US pivot

A deal under longtime chief executive Pascal Soriot would extend the British drugmaker's pivot toward the US market. In June, AstraZeneca elevated its New York listing, a move seen as a blow to the London stockmarket. The company had already unveiled plans last year for a direct US listing, aiming to capitalise on stronger valuations in the US while remaining listed in London.

Soriot's 14-year tenure has seen the company's share price more than quadruple, outpacing the wider FTSE 100 index and main British rival GSK.

AstraZeneca's drug portfolio

Second-quarter results reported last week showed strong demand for cancer and rare disease drugs continuing to drive growth. Cancer treatments accounted for about $25 billion in 2025 sales, nearly half of the total. Cardiovascular, renal and metabolism treatments followed, worth about $12 billion.

Precedent and context

The report of the potential deal comes about a dozen years after AstraZeneca fended off a takeover attempt by larger US rival Pfizer. A successful combination with Bristol Myers Squibb would mark a far larger transaction and reshape the top tier of the global pharmaceutical industry.