Further to European Commission approval earlier in 2020, the US Federal Trade Commission has now agreed to AbbVie’s acquisition of Allergan for $63bn on the back of a bilateral agreement to sell some of Allergan’s assets to AZ and Nestlé. Those assets relate to the treatment of Crohn’s disease, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and colitis – the only therapy areas that the commission considered to carry risk to competition. The Irish High Court is yet to grant consent to the deal.

An FTC statement read: “Over the course of their nine-month investigation, commission staff explored a wide range of theories of competitive harm, including harm to innovation. They uncovered no evidence of such harms beyond those remedied by the proposed consent.”

“Crohn’s disease, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and colitis – the only therapy areas that the commission considered to carry risk to competition“

Conversely, Rohit Chopra, one of the Democratic commissioners, tweeted: “Nestlé may be the world’s largest food and beverage company, but it does not make prescription drugs. I am unwilling to trust this candy and cat litter conglomerate to restore competition for patients needing medicine for serious pancreatic conditions.”