Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is in talks to sell its Salix gastrointestinal drugs business to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., according to a person familiar with the matter.

The unit could go for as much as $10 billion and there is at least one other bidder interested, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier. The deal would include at least $8.5 billion in cash, the Journal said, plus future royalty payments. Valeant bought Salix last year for $13.4 billion.

The stock gained 32 percent to a three-week high of $23.51 at 3:57 p.m. in New York, after earlier rising as much as 36 percent for the biggest intraday gain for the shares since at least 1994.

Scott Hirsch, a spokesman for Valeant, did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Linda Calandra, a spokeswoman for Takeda, did not immediately respond to calls and emails for comment.

As Valeant’s shares have slid, losing more than 90 percent of their value since a peak last year, the company has come under pressure to sell assets and pay down some of its more than $30 billion in debt.

Two of its former executives, ex-Chief Executive Officer Mike Pearson and ex-Chief Financial Officer Howard Schiller, are a focus of U.S. prosecutors as they build a fraud case against the company that could yield charges within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Laval, Quebec-based Valeant, once a darling of Wall Street, has drawn scrutiny in recent years for its practice of acquiring drugs and dramatically increasing their prices. Under new CEO Joe Papa, the company has been trying to get back on stable footing, in part by selling some assets.