(Bloomberg) -- Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. dropped after a report that discussions to sell its gastrointestinal drugs unit to Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for about $10 billion have fallen apart.
Although the talks could still resume, Valeant is now focused on building the business, called Salix, rather than divesting it, Dow Jones reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
The shares dropped 6.5 percent to $16.02 at 10:20 a.m. in New York.
Scott Hirsch, a Valeant spokesman, declined to comment.
Valeant announced on Tuesday that it was making a “significant” expansion in the size of the sales force for gastrointestinal treatment Xifaxan, a sign that it had plans to keep the drug in-house. The Salix business is considered one of the drugmaker's crown jewels.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jared S. Hopkins in New York at jhopkins38@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Daurat at cdaurat@bloomberg.net, John Lauerman
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