The Amgen brand is displayed exterior Amgen headquarters on Might 17, 2023 in Thousand Oaks, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Pictures
The Federal Commerce Fee on Friday stated it has reached a cope with drug big Amgen to permit the corporate’s $27.8 billion buy of Horizon Therapeutics to maneuver ahead.
The 2 firms now anticipate to shut the acquisition – Amgen’s largest ever – early within the fourth quarter of this yr, a spokesperson for Amgen stated.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit the FTC filed in Might in search of to dam the acquisition over issues it could permit Amgen to leverage its drug portfolio to stifle competitors within the pharmaceutical business. The company this week quickly suspended that swimsuit, which allowed it to think about whether or not to settle the case.
However the settlement introduced Friday nonetheless imposes restrictions on Amgen to deal with key issues the FTC raised in its swimsuit.
The deal particularly prohibits Amgen from “bundling” two of Horizon’s blockbuster medicine: thyroid eye illness remedy Tepezza and Krystexxa, a gout drugs.
That follow includes providing rebates or reductions on its current merchandise to stress insurers and pharmacy profit managers into favoring the Horizon merchandise.
Amgen will even need to get approval from the FTC to accumulate any merchandise that deal with the identical illnesses as Tepezza and Krystexxa do. Amgen is required to hunt these signoffs from the company by 2032.
All different necessities will likely be efficient for 15 years after the settlement is finalized, in keeping with the FTC.
As a part of the deal, attorneys common for California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Washington and Wisconsin have additionally agreed to dismiss their federal fits in search of to dam the merger.
Shares of Horizon rose almost 3% in early morning buying and selling Friday. Amgen’s inventory edged up barely.
The spokesperson for Amgen stated the corporate has no “cause, capability, or intention” to bundle Horizon’s two fast-growing medicines. The brand new settlement “can have no affect on Amgen’s enterprise,” the spokesperson added.
A Horizon spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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Amgen first moved to purchase Horizon in December 2022 in an effort to realize entry to the latter’s uncommon illness property, however buyout was fast to draw regulatory and political scrutiny for its potential antitrust points.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan requested the regulator to “closely scrutinize” the acquisition and the then-pending merger of Indivior and Opiant. She warned the offers might result in increased costs. The Indivior-Opiant deal later closed.
The FTC finally heeded Warren’s warnings and filed its lawsuit over the Amgen-Horizon deal.
In a separate assertion Friday, Khan stated the company will “proceed to problem illegal practices that elevate drug costs, inhibit entry, stifle innovation, or in any other case damage sufferers.”
The FTC is at the moment reviewing Pfizer’s $43 billion acquisition of most cancers drug developer Seagen, one of many largest offers of this yr. The company began an in-depth investigation into the transaction in July.
The FTC, beneath Khan, has challenged plenty of high-profile mergers. However the company has struggled in court docket this yr, dropping circumstances to dam a Meta deal and Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.