US Federal Trade Commission approves final order for Grifols to sell certain assets.

M2 PHARMA-September 21, 2018-US Federal Trade Commission approves final order for Grifols to sell certain assets

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The US Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order that needs Spain-based Grifols to sell certain assets as a condition for its acquisition of Biotest US in accordance with the federal antitrust law, it was reported yesterday.

According to the complaint, Grifols has a monopoly in the markets for collection of human blood plasma in Lincoln, Nebraska, Augusta, Georgia, and Youngstown, Ohio.

The settlement requires the company to divest its plasma collection centres in these three cities to KedPlasma, a subsidiary of Kedrion Biopharma Inc. The complaint also alleged that, absent a remedy, the acquisition is likely to have harmed the United States market for hepatitis B immune globulin, or HBIG, a plasma-derived injectable medicine that provides hepatitis B antibodies for preventing hepatitis B infections. Grifols supplies HBIG in the US.

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