EU Approves Teva Takeover of Allergan Generics Unit -- Update
10 Mars 2016 - 4:13PM
Dow Jones News
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS--The European Union on Thursday approved Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. $40.5 billion takeover of Allergan
PLC's generics unit on the condition the companies divest several
assets.
The European Commission, the bloc's antitrust authority, said
the companies would divest the majority of the Allergan's generics
business in the U.K. and Ireland. Teva will also have to sell its
generics business in Iceland, but would retain the Allergan
generics business there.
In addition, the companies will also have to divest all the
marketed molecules as well as the molecules currently being
developed, which create competition concerns in the rest of the
bloc, the EU said.
The commission said it had had concerns the merged entity would
have faced insufficient competition from the remaining rivals for a
number of generic drugs, especially in the U.K. Ireland and
Iceland.
"I am glad we have found a solution that allows this takeover to
proceed, while ensuring that competition will continue in all
European countries, " said the EU's antitrust chief Margrethe
Vestager. "Effective competition between generic pharmaceutical
manufacturers is essential to drive down prices for patients and
healthcare systems."
The Israeli company announced last July it would buy the
Allergan unit, in a deal that will combine Teva--the world's
largest generic-drug company by sales--with the third-largest
competitor in the market.
The acquisition will give Teva increased scale in the hotly
competitive generic-drug market, and an opportunity to pursue
further cost reductions that could help it cope with the end of a
wave of big patent expirations.
"The divested generics business in the U.K. and Ireland will be
capable of manufacturing and marketing generic medicines," Teva
said in a statement, while the remaining generics business there
would then be integrated into the merged company's operations.
Dublin-based Allergan in November agreed to merge with Pfizer
Inc., in a deal worth more than $150 billion that would create the
world's biggest drugmaker and move one of the top names in
corporate America to a foreign country.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 10, 2016 09:58 ET (14:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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