Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) shares tumbled Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported talks to sell the drugmaker’s Salix unit to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for US$10 billion have broken down.  

Valeant’s stock was down seven per cent on the NYSE as of 12:45 p.m. ET.

Valeant confirmed it was in talks to sell Salix, its stomach-drug unit, to Japanese pharma company Takeda earlier this month.

Takeda tried earlier in the year to buy Salix as part of a joint bid with private equity firm TPG but the approach, which came a few weeks before Joseph Papa took over as Valeant’s chief executive, was rejected by the board, according to a Reuters report.

Valeant acquired Salix for US$14.5 billion in 2015.