Source: Pfizer
A month later, Pfizer withdrew its notice for its proposed $43 billion acquisition of cancer medication expert Seagen and would file another later, according to an SEC filing.
The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 mandates the use of the form. According to Seagen, the waiting time under the statute will end on July 14 of this year. The business also said that Pfizer and it had submitted a merger application with the European Commission on June 1 and that they still anticipated finishing the purchase by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.
On March 12, Pfizer and Seagen revealed their plans for a merger. Next, on May 12, both the FTC and the Department of Justice received notices from both parties. The FTC sued in federal court four days later to stop the planned merger between Amgen and Horizon. The FTC’s action was the organization’s first against a pharmaceutical M&A deal in more than a decade.
While the lawsuit’s filing appeared to cast doubt on the Pfizer-Seagen merger, several analysts hypothesized that Amgen’s track record of bolstering the monopolistic positions of its medications through product bundling and rebate programmes was more to blame for the legal challenge. The FTC has suggested that Amgen’s acquisition of Horizon would provide them access to medicines that might improve their capacity to take advantage of the market.
According to analysts at Berenberg, there isn’t much overlap between Pfizer’s and Seagen’s products that would allow the businesses to implement a bundling/rebate approach. However, the FTC declared in 2021 that going ahead, it will examine biopharma megamergers more carefully.
