Bristol-Myers Squibb on Monday, June 24, offered to divest Celgene’s psoriasis treatment Otezla to allay concerns raised by the US competition regulator, and pushed back the closing of their US$74 billion deal.
Bristol announced its plans to buy Celgene in a cash-and-stock deal in early January to bring together the companies that specialize in oncology and cardiovascular drugs in the largest pharmaceutical industry merger ever. It had said it would close the deal in the third quarter of 2019.
The divestiture is subject to further review by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and requires Bristol to enter into a consent decree with the agency, Bristol said.
In March, the FTC had sought additional information from the companies as it focused on their psoriasis treatments as part of its review of their planned merger.
Full Content: Wall Street Journal
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