Athlone-based pharmaceutical company Elan said last night it would not comment on reports it is considering a £600 million sterling (€900 million) hostile takeover of Medeva, a rival firm with its headquarters in London. The two firms are said to have held merger talks recently, which broke down when executives could not agree a price. The main sticking-point in the talks was the valuation of Medeva's pipeline of drugs under development.