WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has abandoned plans to buy Takeda Pharmaceutical’s surgical patch product TachoSil, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.
Takeda, Japan’s biggest drugmaker, announced the sale of TachoSil, a surgical patch to control bleeding, to U.S. giant Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Ethicon for $400 million last May.
FTC Chairman Joseph Simons said that the agency had been concerned about the deal since Johnson & Johnson sells Evarrest, the only other U.S.-approved fibrin sealant patch designed to stop bleeding during surgery.
“Staff had significant concerns about the likely anticompetitive effects and had recommended that the Commission block the transaction. Now that the deal has been abandoned, patients and surgeons will continue to benefit from competition,” Simons said in an email statement.
Johnson & Johnson could not immediately be reached for comment.
In late March, EU antitrust regulators had expressed concern about the deal and opened a full investigation into it, saying that high development costs meant rivals would find it difficult to enter the market. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
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