Conditional approval given by Commission for acquisition of Allergan

The Commission has decided that the acquisition of Irish pharmaceutical company Allergan by US pharmaceutical company Abbvie can go ahead as long as certain conditions are met. In their investigation the Commission found that Allergan and Abbvie had products that overlapped, and that this could disrupt development of a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease by the loss of innovation. Abbvie has therefore agreed to the divestment of a product that Allergan is developing, to meet these conditions and alleviate the Commission’s competition concerns.

The Commission’s press release on this today provides further detail.