Foley & Lardner LLP partner Benjamin Dryden is quoted in the Law360 article, “FTC-Amgen Deal: ‘Major Advance,’ Or ‘Narrow Assurance’?” commenting on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent settlement with Amgen Inc. that allows the company’s proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics to proceed and resolves both FTC and state antitrust concerns.
“Amgen has long said that it would not be possible to bundle its legacy drugs with Tepezza or Krystexxa, and by settling the case with FTC, Amgen is committing not to even try,” explained Dryden, who is vice chair of Foley’s Antitrust Practice Group. The FTC had argued that Amgen would leverage its large portfolio of blockbuster drugs to pressure insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers into favoring these two Horizon drugs. “For all practical purposes, the settlement gives Amgen everything it was hoping to get out of its acquisition of Horizon.”
Dryden noted that while the FTC got the companies to agree to “some procedural protections that it would not have secured without bringing this litigation,” he added that those “are relatively minor, procedural wins for the FTC.”
(Subscription required)