- Six Democratic AGs joined the FTC in filing a lawsuit to block Amgen Inc.’s planned purchase of Horizon Therapeutics PLC, alleging that the transaction raises antitrust concerns and violates the Clayton Act.
- According to the complaint, Horizon Therapeutics is currently the only company to manufacture medicines to treat certain rare autoimmune diseases—thyroid eye disease and chronic refractory gout—and if the merger is consummated, Amgen would be able to leverage its market position as one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies to foreclose competition against Horizon Therapeutics’ treatments for such autoimmune diseases.
- The complaint seeks a temporary restraining order preventing the acquisition from going forward until the FTC has an opportunity to issue an administrative complaint and subsequently adjudicate the merger’s legality in administrative proceedings.