The $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics by Amgen was finalized on Friday, according to the company, after receiving the go-ahead from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month, subject to a few conditions.
Amgen is prohibited from utilizing anticompetitive strategies to prolong the market dominance of Horizon’s thyroid eye disease treatment Tepezza and gout medication Krystexxa under the terms of the settlement agreement with the FTC reached after its lawsuit to halt the merger.
Concerns over enhanced regulation of mergers and acquisitions in a sector, that frequently uses consolidation, to fuel future growth as patents on older medicines expire were raised by the FTC’s antitrust complaint.
The two firms’ fourth-quarter deadline was met by the deal’s conclusion.
