AstraZeneca among suitors eyeing Amylin Amylin Pharmaceuticals, the US maker of diabetes-focused medicines, has attracted a string of potential suitors, including Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca, people close to the situation said. US drugmakers Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck, France's Sanofi, Japan's Takeda, and Switzerland's Roche have also signed up to participate in a sales process for the group, requesting information and signing non-disclosure agreements, the people said. The move comes amid a flurry of M&A activity in the sector, which was the busiest last month with more than $33bn of deals done, according to data providers Dealogic. Amylin appointed Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs to consider a possible sale of the business after having rebuffed an approach from BMS earlier this year, one of the people said. Analysts at Bernstein Research have put a value of about $3.5bn on Amylin, while saying the price would in effect probably be higher after taking into account the US group's promissory notes and convertible debt. First-round bids are expected in the next two weeks, the people said. All parties declined to comment. The approaches were first reported by Bloomberg. The approach by AstraZeneca comes after it has suffered a series of recent late-stage experimental drug failures and a change in its management after pressure from shareholders. Last month, David Brennan, its chief executive, stepped down. Leading shareholders who pushed for his departure have been hoping for further boardroom changes and are seeking greater cash returns rather than any big investment or acquisitions as the company braces for further patent expiries. If AstraZeneca pursued Amylin it would be its second takeover this year. In April it announced plans to acquire US biotechnology company Ardea Biosciences in a $1.3bn deal. California-based Ardea, which is lossmaking, has a drug under test for gout. It also agreed a tie-up with Amgen, another west coast biotechnology group, in which it pledged to finance the development of several compounds. Bristol-Myers Squibb, like AstraZeneca, has spurned a broader industry trend to diversify more aggressively beyond pure innovative medicines. Analysts have argued that they need to expand their scale in the diabetes sector, dominated by Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. Amylin has developed a series of medicines for diabetics and in late 2011 concluded litigation that had overshadowed a decade-long partnership with Eli Lilly, acquiring back full rights to its drug exenatide in exchange for payments totalling $1.2bn plus interest over the coming years. It has partnerships with Alkermes, Takeda and Biocon. Additional reporting by Andrew Jack and Alan Rappeport