EU approves Mylan’s merger with Pfizer’s Upjohn, with conditions
Merger covers certain generic medicines sold by Mylan across 20 countries in Europe
The European Commission has approved the proposed merger between Mylan and Upjohn, Pfizer's off-patent branded drugs business, but says some of Mylan’s drugs will need to be divested.
The divestment covers certain generic medicines sold by Mylan across 20 countries in Europe, including products used in therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, genito-urinary, musculoskeletal, nervous system and sensory organ diseases, which are listed here.
That includes handing over “marketing authorisations, contracts and brands, as well as transitory manufacturing and supply arrangements” to other drugmakers, said the Commission.
Announcing the approval, Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president in charge of competition policy at the Commission, said that the decision “ensures that the merger between Mylan and Upjohn does not harm competition, thus preserving competitive access to certain genericised medicines for national health services and European citizens”.
In a statement, Mylan said the divestments were “substantially in line” with its previously stated expectations.
The merger to create Viatris – billed as a generics giant with annual sales of around $20bn this year – was originally due to complete in the middle of this year, but there have been reports it may be delayed to the latter half of 2020 by antitrust delays.
The EU approval is a big step towards getting the transaction over the finishing line, as Pfizer and Mylan wait for the green light from other authorities including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US.
In March, the FTC said some of its decisions could be delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, for example if key staff are absent and documents can’t be made available during the crisis.
“This is a significant milestone, and we are committed to fully satisfying the EU’s conditions, and expect to have the divestitures complete by the time we close in the second half of 2020,” said Mylan.
The deal will help streamline Pfizer, focusing it around its more profitable prescription medicines division, and providing it with extra capital to spend on R&D and bolt-on acquisitions to bulk up its new product pipeline.
The spin-out will represent the biggest strategic move yet by Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla, who took the helm of the group in January 2019 after having served as its operations chief.
欧盟委员会已经批准了迈兰与辉瑞非专利品牌药物业务 Upjohn 的拟议合并，但表示迈兰的一些药物将需要剥离。此次撤资覆盖迈兰在欧洲 20 个国家销售的某些仿制药，包括用于心血管、泌尿生殖、肌肉骨骼、神经系统和感觉器官疾病等治疗领域的产品，在此列出。该委员会称，这包括将“上市许可、合同和品牌，以及短暂的生产和供应安排”移交给其他制药商。委员会负责竞争政策的常务副总裁 Margrethe Vestager 在宣布批准时表示，该决定“确保迈兰和 Upjohn 的合并不会损害竞争，从而保持了国家卫生服务和欧洲公民对某些仿制药的竞争性获取”。迈兰在一份声明中表示，此次撤资“实质上符合”其此前的预期。创建 Viatris 的合并原本计划在今年年中完成，但也有报道称，由于反垄断的拖延，合并可能会推迟到 2020 年下半年。Viatris 被称为仿制药巨头，今年年销售额约为 200 亿美元。在辉瑞和迈兰等待包括美国联邦贸易委员会 (FTC) 在内的其他权威机构的绿灯之际，欧盟的批准是朝让交易越过终点线迈出的一大步。今年 3 月，联邦贸易委员会说，由于冠状病毒的大流行，它的一些决定可能会被推迟，例如如果关键工作人员缺席，在危机期间无法提供文件。迈兰说：“这是一个重要的里程碑，我们致力于完全满足欧盟的条件，并期望在 2020 年下半年我们关闭时剥离完成。”这笔交易将有助于简化辉瑞，将其重点放在利润更高的处方药部门，并为其提供额外资本，用于研发和螺栓收购，以扩大其新产品线。此次分拆将代表辉瑞首席执行官阿尔伯特 • 布拉迄今为止最大的战略举措。布拉在担任辉瑞首席运营官后，于 2019 年 1 月执掌该集团。
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