Update: Rumors say Sanofi to merge with B-MS

With the vital patent appeal trial in the USA over drug major Sanofi-Aventis of France and the USA's Bristol-Myers Squibb's co-marketed blockbuster blood-thinning drug Plavix (clopidogrel) ongoing, speculation has been rife about a merger between the two companies.

It started with the French financial newsletter La Lettre de l'Expansion saying that the two had signed a preliminary agreement to merge back in September 2006. Both firms have declined to comment, although the UK Financial Times' French sister paper, Les Echos, says that several finance industry executives confirmed that, while nothing had been settled, they "have agreed to study whether a deal would be worthwhile."

US Plavix appeal may be critical