A coalition of consumer groups and unions have asked the Federal Trade Commission to block AbbVie (ABBV) from proceeding with its proposed $63 billion acquisition of Allergan (AGN) in order “to prevent further harm to consumers.”
In arguing their case, the groups contend pharmaceutical industry has become increasingly concentrated, which has often caused higher prices and reduced choices. Moreover, they also maintained both companies have “engaged in a wide variety of anticompetitive conduct to stifle competition including restrictive contracting practices and intellectual property abuse.”
Consequently, the merger “may enable AbbVie to engage in even more restrictive practices that will harm competition and consumers by blocking access to new lower-priced more efficacious drugs, inhibiting innovation, and distorting markets,” the groups wrote in a letter to the FTC. An FTC spokesman told us the agency declined to comment.
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