Oliver Brandicourt, CEO of French drug giant Sanofi, promised last week that he’d move to replace takeover target Medivation’s (MDVN) entire board if the California biotech didn’t soften its stated aversion to a buyout. Sanofi is reportedly preparing to follow through with the threat, tellingCNBC that it will name eight board nominees as soon as the end of next week.
Sanofi’s pursuit of Medivation has yet to yield a deal despite a $9.3 billion offer towards the end of April. The latter firm rebuffed the proposal as undervaluing the company. Sanofi has since indicated that it’s willing to tinker with the final number, but only if Medivation comes to the negotiating table—a move that the biotech has yet to make publicly. Brandicourt had already previously threatened to take the bid hostile ahead of Friday’s report about the board nominees.
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“We believe immediate engagement would be in the best interests of your shareholders as it would enable them promptly to realize substantial and certain value, while minimizing the disruption to your organization,” he wrote to Medivation’s board earlier this month. “You should know that an acquisition of Medivation is a priority for Sanofi and we are committed to effecting it.”
Fortune has reached out to Sanofi to confirm the board nomination reports, and will update this post if they respond.
Medivation has been involved in a bit of buyout hot-potato in recent times. British drugmaker AstraZeneca has reportedly been eyeing the company, as has U.S. pharma giant Pfizer (PFE).
Big pharma’s interest in Medivation also underscores the growing thirst for cancer biotechs among traditional drugmakers—in fact, Medivation has just one product, the prostate cancer treatment Xtandi. Sanofi, whose historically dominant diabetes franchise has brushed up against a growing field of competitors in recent years, has been looking to branch out its oncology portfolio.
