Biopharmaceutical company Actelion Ltd. said Friday that it had been approached by Johnson & Johnson about a possible deal.

Shares rose 16% to 182.40 Swiss francs on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

J&J didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, Switzerland-based Actelion reported revenue of 2.05 billion francs ($2.02 billion) and a profit of 551.9 million francs.

Actelion, which had its initial public offering at the turn of the century, focuses on drugs for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects arteries in the lungs and in the heart.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that J&J had made an initial bid for the specialty drug company.

Shares of J&J rose 0.7% to $113.88 in morning trading in the U.S.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2016 12:05 ET (17:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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