FTC Opens Amgen-Horizon Merger Deal for Public Comments

The Amgen-Horizon Therapeutics merger isn’t quite over the finish line, because — in accordance with consumer protection and anti-competition laws — the FTC is seeking public comment on the consent order it recently issued allowing Amgen’s proposed $27.8 billion buyout of the Irish pharmaceutical company to proceed.

The move could be the culmination of this complicated deal, one of the largest of its kind in recent memory, according to the FTC. The commission had challenged the merger as a potential pathway for Amgen to gain unfair market advantage by bundling an Amgen product with two Horizon mega-earners — thyroid eye disease drug Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw) and the chronic refractory gout therapy Krystexxa (pegloticase), but recently came to an agreement with Amgen.

In early September, the FTC issued a consent order that puts strict limits on how Amgen could offer rebates on these two drugs and bars Amgen from using any product rebate or contract terms to exclude or disadvantage drugs competing with either Tepezza or Krystexxa.

Comments will be accepted through Oct. 13.

Read the notice of public comment here.

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