ViroPharma Incorporated (VPHM)

[mlkrborn]

VIRO ON SALE?
Rumors about a likely Teva bid to acquire ViroPharma started driving up the biotech's share price yesterday, but the developer moved swiftly to squelch the buzz.

"It is certainly not the goal of the management team to be acquired at this point. We are looking to build the company," a spokesperson tells Reuters. Rather than looking for a big company to come along and buy it, ViroPharma says its attention is focused on finding new products that it can acquire.

Still, in a week that has seen market gossip about biotech buyouts hitting fever pitch, some of the analysts were left nodding their heads over the logic of a deal. Zacks Investment Research analyst Jason Napodano told Dow Jones that "ViroPharma would be a good acquisition candidate for a company." And Teva has made it clear that it's interested in getting into the specialty drug business in a big way.

For its part, ViroPharma also insists it is not looking for a partner for either Cinryze, its therapy for hereditary angioedema, or its early-stage therapy for bacterial infection.