Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NasdaqGS:WBA) is considering an acquisition of healthcare IT firm Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE:EVH), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Evolent's shares rose as much as 18% after the report, before paring some of the gains to trade nearly up 8%. Bloomberg reported that the talks are ongoing and there is no certainty Walgreens will move forward with an offer to buy the company.

Walgreens and Evolent did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.