AstraZeneca has made an offer of about 10 billion dollars to acquire Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, according to Reuters reporting on November 4 that cited three people familiar with the matter. The non-binding proposal is worth as much as 134 dollars a share including payments for milestone achievements, the people said. The Wall Street Journal, reporting earlier the same day, put an offer made last month at 124 dollars a share. Neither company has confirmed the approach, and no agreement has been announced.
Rhythm shares closed up 28 percent at 110.68 dollars on November 4, giving the company a market capitalisation of about 7.64 billion dollars, Reuters reported. The gap between the closing price and the reported offer price is the market pricing the risk that no deal is agreed on those terms, or at all.
The pursuit would run through Alexion, the rare disease business AstraZeneca bought for 39 billion dollars in 2021, two of the people told Reuters. Rhythm develops therapies for rare neuroendocrine disorders and severe obesity linked to the melanocortin-4 receptor pathway, which regulates hunger.
Rhythm’s commercial product is Imcivree (setmelanotide). In March 2026 the US Food and Drug Administration expanded its use to acquired hypothalamic obesity, obesity caused by damage to the hypothalamus, making it the first treatment approved in the United States for the condition. The company’s own third quarter release, published November 3, put global Imcivree net product revenue at 92.1 million dollars, up 29 percent from the second quarter and up from 51.3 million dollars a year earlier, with 67.5 million dollars of it in the United States. The company recorded a net loss of 42.4 million dollars in the quarter and held about 320.9 million dollars in cash and short term investments at September 30.
The same release shows Rhythm was financing itself to stay independent even as the approach developed. It agreed to pay LG Chem 350 million dollars in fixed payments over four years to cut the royalty on its melanocortin portfolio to 1 percent, and it secured access to a term loan facility of up to 750 million dollars. A bidder will have to price that standalone path, not just the current share price.