(Bloomberg) -- BridgeBio Pharma Inc., which develops treatments for genetic diseases, is attracting takeover interest from bigger drug companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some large pharmaceutical companies are studying a potential acquisition of the Palo Alto, California-based biotech firm, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. 

Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said.  

BridgeBio may decide to remain independent longer so it can benefit from the results of upcoming drug trials, some of the people said.

A representative for BridgeBio didn’t return requests for comment.

The stock rose as much as 10% on the report Friday to $14.90, giving the company a market value of $2.4 billion. Shares of BridgeBio have gained 69% this year before Friday.

Chief Executive Officer Neil Kumar founded BridgeBio in 2015 to develop medicines for cancers that linked to defects in single gene. Another area for the company is developing treatments for cancers whose growth is genetically boosted.

BridgeBio raised $150 million through a stock offering earlier this month after promising clinical data for one of its treatments prompted its shares to jump 52% in a single day and close at their highest level in more than a year. A mid-stage study showed that high doses of its experimental therapy infigratinib spurred increased effects in children with a genetic cause of dwarfism, the company said March 6.

The company aspires to generate $2 billion in annualized run-rate revenue within five years, Kumar said at the JPMorgan conference in January.

(Updates with stock move starting in sixth paragraph)

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