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FTC Is Ready To Negotiate Over Amgen/Horizon Merger

 
• By Joseph Haas

Amgen asked the FTC to accept its pledge not to bundle Horizon’s Tepezza or Krystexxa, while an FTC administrative law judge urged a settlement between the agency and Amgen.

FTC building, Washinton, DC / USA - April 22 2019: The north facade of the Federal Trade Commission building with carved sculpture above an enterence.
The FTC has paused its review of the Amgen/Horizon proposed merger • Source: Shutterstock

Weeks before Amgen, Inc. was scheduled to argue against a proposed US Federal Trade Commission injunction to block its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc, the agency has suspended its review of the proposed merger to give the two sides time to negotiate a settlement. The FTC made a motion to withdraw the matter from adjudication, which its internal court approved on 23 August, stopping any further review of the transaction until 18 September.

Amgen announced that it would acquire Horizon for $27.8bn on 12 December, making for the biopharmaceutical industry’s largest M&A transaction of 2022 if it closes. (Also see "Amgen To Enhance Rare Disease Franchise With $27.8bn Horizon Takeover" - Scrip, 12 December, 2022.) The deal would add Horizon’s blockbuster thyroid eye disease drug Tepezza (teprotumumab) and established gout drug Krystexxa (pegloticase) to Amgen’s portfolio – neither product would overlap with any product already owned by Amgen, which is usually the basis for FTC scrutiny of a proposed merger

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