After US healthcare company Johnson & Johnson bowed out of the race to strike a deal with Swiss biotech-pharmaceuticals company Actelion, and Sanofi was reported to have launched its own bid, it now seems to be all change and back to the starting line.

On Dec. 21, after reports said Sanofi had been given the cold shoulder, J&J announced it was back at the negotiating table, confirming it had entered “exclusive negotiations with Actelion regarding a potential transaction.” Scant hours earlier, news agencies reported that the Swiss company’s share price had risen on the back of rumors that it was close to a deal with the French drugmaker after falling by 7% on news of the breakdown in talks with J&J.

Sources had previously had told speaking to Bloomberg that, in an attempt to win over Actelion's board, Sanofi had made a higher bid containing cash and a contingent value right (CVR) – similar to the one it had provided when it buying US rare diseases company Genzyme for $20 billion in 2011. This would amount to a $2 billion bonus to be paid out if certain Actelion drugs lived up to the expectations voiced by its CEO, Jean-Paul Clozel. The company is regarded as a leader in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Reuters, also quoting “sources,” said Clozel “may now be in a place where he has to make a deal or risk that angry investors will take steps to replace the Actelion board with members that will make a deal.” While investors were pitching for a transaction to be wrapped up before Christmas, Reuters said a deal was more likely to be concluded between Christmas and New Year's.