Amgen, maker of Enbrel, to pick up Celgenes Otezla for 13.4B Dollars. Will FTC hit back?
FiercePharma | August 26, 2019
Looks like Amgen might not be buying Alexion Pharmaceuticals after all. Instead, its beefing up in psoriasis, where it already sells blockbuster TNF inhibitor Enbrel. Amgen Monday said it will take in Celgenes Otezla for 13.4 billion dollars in cash, a purchase that could help Bristol-Myers Squibb move along with its planned acquisition of Celgene for 74 billion dollars, per an agreement with U.S. antitrust authorities. The dollar amount easily dwarfs some recent biopharma deals for entire companies, showing enthusiasm over the immunology and inflammatory markets, led by the world’s best-selling drug and Enbrel rival, Humira. And it’s significantly above the price tag analysts have previously estimated for Otezla, suggesting an intense bidding process for the fast-growing psoriasis drug whose second-quarter sales increased by 31% year over year, to $493 million. “Otezla represents an exciting opportunity to strengthen Amgen's presence in inflammation and continue Amgen's geographic expansion,” Amgen CEO Robert Bradway said in a statement. Otezla is an attractive product that, while still in the early stages of its life cycle, is already raking in blockbuster sales. But Bristol was forced to sell Otezla to win the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) clearance simply because it overlaps with BMS’ own investigational TYK-2 inhibitor, BMS-986165. How will the anti-competition watchdog allow two marketed blockbuster drugs in the same indications to be housed under the same roof?