GSK and Novartis get European clearance for asset swap

UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) has received clearance from the European Commission for its proposed three-part transaction with Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX).

The deal, announced in April last year, includes the acquisition of Novartis’s vaccines business (excluding influenza vaccines), the creation of a consumer health care joint venture between GSK and Novartis and the divestment to Novartis of GSK’s marketed oncology portfolio, related R&D activities and rights to two pipeline AKT inhibitors.

The European Commission’s approval is subject to certain conditions, which GSK and Novartis have agreed to undertake following completion of the proposed transaction. GSK also agreed to sell its meningitis vaccines, Nimenrix and Mencevax, on a global basis. These vaccines are marketed outside of the USA and generated annual global sales of £36 million ($54.5 million) in 2013. GSK will also divest two small Novartis bivalent vaccines for protection against diphtheria and tetanus in Italy and Germany.