AGN - AbbVie's Pending Acquisition of Allergan Earns FTC Approval
In June 2019, AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced it would acquire Allergan (NYSE: AGN) in a cash and stock transaction valued at $63 billion. And Tuesday, almost a year after the news first broke, the pharma giant finally cleared the last of the regulatory hurdles involved when it received the green light from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), meaning AbbVie may now move forward with the acquisition.
This deal did encounter several impediments. Most notably, a coalition of consumer groups and unions expressed antitrust NS concerns and argued that AbbVie's acquisition of Allergan would reduce competition in ways that would harm consumers. The coalition asked the FTC to investigate -- and potentially block -- the deal.
AbbVie and Allergan agreed to divest several assets to address these antitrust concerns. Allergan sold Brazikumab -- an investigational treatment for Crohn's disease and other autoimmune disorders -- to AstraZeneca. Allergan also divested Zenpep, a product that treats the lack of enzymes caused by certain conditions such as cystic fibrosis, to Nestle. The closing of the acquisition is imminent now that AbbVie and Allergan have received the FTC's blessing.