FTC approves final order preserving competition in US markets for animal health products

Following a public comment period, the US Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that Boehringer Ingelheim’s $13.53 billion asset swap with Paris, France-based Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) would likely be anticompetitive.

First announced in December 2016, the FTC’s complaint alleged that, as proposed, the swap would likely harm competition in the US markets for various vaccines for companion animals, or pets, and certain parasite control products for cattle and sheep.

The order requires that family-owned German pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim divest the canine, feline and rabies vaccines identified in the complaint to US firm Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and its Elanco Animal Health division, and the parasite control products to Germany’s Bayer.
The Commission vote approving the final order was 3-0.