EU Regulators Approve Eli Lilly-Novartis Deal
EU Regulators Approve Eli Lilly-Novartis Deal
EU antitrust regulatory body European Commission has given approval for the takeover of Novartis's animal health business by Eli Lilly. The US pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly is planning to acquire the animal healthcare pharma unit of Swiss company Novartis. The deal is said to be for USD 5.4 billion.
The European Commission indicated that it was satisfied with the deal. It have the takeover deal unconditional clearance. This takeover will enable the US drugmaker to expand its Elanco unit. This was one of the most prominent acquisitions announced in the healthcare sector. Now, the rush is on for pharmaceutical companies to specialize or increase scale in specific disease areas.
The European Commission has indicated that the takeover will create overlaps between the 2 pharmaceutical companies in the market for certain classes of drugs such as parasiticides and antimicrobials. However, the takeover would be followed by more competitors in the market in coming months and this would keep prices in check, the regulator concluded according to a report in Reuters.
Many deals have been put together and executed this year in the pharma sector such as Novartis's purchase of oncology products from GlaxoSmithKline. Its animal health business is bring sold for €4.3 billion to Eli Lilly. The US pharmaceutical giant will now turn into the second biggest maker of such products across the globe as far as revenue is concerned, according to RTE.
"The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of the Novartis Animal Health business of Switzerland by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly," a statement from the commission to the media read. It also added that "the proposed transaction does not raise competition concerns, in particular because a number of strong players would remain in the markets after the merger."
The commission has also probed the markets for anti-parasite medicine in parts of Europe such as Greece, Spain, Ireland, The Netherlands, France and Belgium. It studied markets for heartworm parasiticides in Italy, Portugal and Spain and also said several competitors in the market would remain active following the merger, according to RTE and Channel News Asia.
Eli Lilly has been associated with several revolutionary products in the field of animal as well as human health care. With its latest acquisition of the animal health business unit of the Swiss drugmaker, the US firm will also get a chance to expand to European markets. Apart from this, it is also becoming a specialist in the field. The clearance is a major step forward for the pharma major.
Animal health care is a field which is gaining importance in recent times. With new and more specialized units functioning under established pharmaceutical firms such as Eli Lilly, the opportunities for success in this field are manifold.
