Pfizer’s $17bn Hospira deal set to close in September after US FTC clearance
Pfizer first announced it was buying the Lake Forest, Illinois drug and device maker Hospira in February for $17bn (€14bn), and today the Pharma Giant came one step closer after receiving clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the condition it divests four of its US sterile injectables assets.
The drugs are: Acetylcysteine, used to treat paracetamol overdose, the antibiotic clindamycin, antifungal medication voriconazole, and the chemotherapy agent melphalan.
In the same announcement, Pfizer said Brazil’s Superintendency-General of CADE has also agreed to the merger with no conditions.
“We are pleased to have received these final regulatory approvals for our pending acquisition of Hospira,” said Pfizer CEO Ian Read. “We now look forward to combining our two companies and expect the transaction to close in early September.”
The European Commission (EC) has already given the nod for the merger to go ahead on the proviso that Pfizer divests various sterile injectable drugs in various member states, as well as Pfizer’s monoclonal antibody candidate infliximab (a biosimilar of J&J’s Remicade a version of which has already been launched across a number of EU states by Hospira).
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also gave clearance earlier this month.