UPDATE: US FTC Clears Merck-Schering Deal, With Conditions
October 29 2009 - 5:24PM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday cleared Merck
& Co.'s (MRK) $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp.
(SGP), but required that the companies divest assets as a condition
of government approval.
Under the terms of an agreement with the FTC, Merck must sell
its interest in Merial Ltd., an animal health joint venture with
Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY, SAN.FR), while Schering-Plough must sell
assets in nausea drugs for humans.
Both sets of divestitures had been expected.
Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose said the company is still awaiting
regulatory antitrust clearances in Canada, Mexico and China. Rose
and Schering Plough spokesman Steve Galpin said the companies
continue to expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
The FTC said the asset sales for nausea drugs were necessary to
alleviate competitive concerns regarding human drugs known as NK 1
receptor antagonists.
Merck's Emend is the only such drug approved for human use to
treat nausea from chemotherapy and surgery, but Schering-Plough was
in the process of licensing a similar drug, rolapitant, the
commission said.
The FTC said Schering-Plough must sell its rolapitant-related
assets to Opko Health, Inc. (OPK) within 10 days of the merger's
closing.
Opko announced the acquisition on Oct. 13.
Merck had previously announced its plan to sell its interest in
the Merial animal-health joint-venture.
Merck and Schering-Plough reached their cash-and-stock deal in
March.
The European Commission cleared the merger last week.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222;
brent.kendall@dowjones.com
(Peter Loftus contributed to this article.)