Would the combined company use improper tactics to foreclose
competition?
Review of the $43 billion biopharmaceutical merger of drug giant
Pfizer Inc. and biopharmaceutical company Seagen Inc. is under way
at the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, the
European Commission, and the U.K. Competition & Markets
Authority.
Opinions about the deal's prospect vary. Some feel there is
no problem with the merger; others anticipate deeper scrutiny. The
authorities eventually answer whether the merger would harm
competition in an important field of research and development or
whether it may proceed but with strong competition protections.
"Given the change in anticompetitive tactics employed by
pharmaceutical companies, federal agencies investigating mergers
like Pfizer's acquisition of Seagen should expand their review
to include analysis of whether the combined company will be able to
utilize discount bundling, exclusionary contracts or related
tactics
