Antitrust Lawyer Blog Commentary on Current Developments

Articles Tagged with J&J

On February 18, 2020, a group of unions, consumer groups, and public interest organizations filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) raising concerns that the divestiture of Allergan plc’s (“Allergan”) pipeline drug, brazikumab, will not succeed unless the FTC addresses AbbVie’s use of rebate walls.

Consumer Group Concerns Regarding Rebate Walls and the Proposed Divestiture

The letter expresses concerns that the proposed divestiture to AstraZeneca of Allergan’s brazikumab, a drug in development, is inadequate to address the clear anticompetitive effects of the AbbVie/Allergan merger.  The letter makes the following points:

On September 12, 2019, a coalition of unions, consumer groups, and public interest organizations filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) opposing AbbVie Inc.’s (“AbbVie”) acquisition of Allergan plc (“Allergan”).

Coalition Opposing the Merger

The coalition includes Families USA, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, UNITE HERE, Consumer Action, American Federation of Teachers, Alliance for Retired Americans, American Family Voices, Doctors for America, End AIDS Now, Prescription Justice, Social Security Works, the Other 98, Treatment Action Group, and NextGen California.  It is asking the FTC to conduct a thorough investigation and to block the merger if the facts support it and a remedy cannot be devised to restore competition.  The coalition highlights the competitive problems arising from continued consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry and requests that the FTC include in its investigation ongoing anticompetitive conduct by the parties, such as the use of rebate walls, which will have an even more profound anticompetitive effect if this merger is consolidated, as well as past abuse of the patent system.

On August 10, 2018, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied J&J’s motion to dismiss Pfizer’s antitrust action involving infliximab products.

Background on Pfizer/J&J

In September 2017, Pfizer filed an antitrust lawsuit under Sections 1 and 2 of Sherman Act alleging J&J engaged in exclusionary anticompetitive practices to keep Pfizer out of the market for infliximab products.

On September 27, 2017, the FTC announced that Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (“Integra”) and Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) agreed to a divestiture of five neurosurgical medical device product lines to settle FTC allegations that Integra’s proposed $1 billion acquisition of J&J’s Codman Neuro division (“Codman”) would negatively impact competition in those markets.

Competitive Issue

Both companies supply a range of devices used in operative neurosurgery, hydrocephalus management and neuro-critical care.  According to the FTC’s complaint, the acquisition as it was proposed would likely harm competition in the U.S. markets for (1) intracranial pressure monitoring systems, where Integra and Codman are the only significant suppliers of these systems, together accounting for 94% of the U.S. market; (2) cerebrospinal fluid collection systems, where Integra and Codman are two of the only three competitively significant suppliers of these collection systems in the United States, together accounting for 71% of the market; (3) non-antimicrobial external ventricular drainage catheters, where Integra and Codman are two of the only three competitively significant suppliers of these catheters in the United States, together accounting for 46% of the market; (4) fixed pressure valve shunt systems, where Integra and Codman are two of the only three competitively significant suppliers of these catheters, accounting for a combined 38% of the U.S. market; and (5) dural grafts, where Integra and Codman together control 75% of the U.S. market.

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