Written by Jody Godoy
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called for closer scrutiny of the $16.5 billion deal in which Novo Nordisk’s (NYSE:) controlling shareholder acquired contract drug manufacturer Catalent (NYSE:). requested antitrust regulators. The company enjoys illegal profits in weight loss and obesity drugs.
Novo Nordisk’s controlling investment firm, Novo Holdings, signed a deal to buy Catalent for $16.5 billion in February to increase supply of Novo’s blockbuster GLP-1 weight loss drug Wigovy. .
Warren urged the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to sue to block the deal if regulators find it illegal, which could delay the deal’s expected completion later this year. There is sex.
“The merger between Novo Nordisk and Catalent will give Novo Nordisk unprecedented visibility and control over the production capacity, costs and business practices of its competitors, making it easier for competitors to pursue Catalent in favor of its own products. I am concerned that it will be possible to interfere with the production of GLP-1 drugs,” Warren said in the letter.
Warren is a political ally and supporter of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who some business groups have accused of being bent on blocking deals. Khan said the FTC’s review ultimately challenges only a small portion of the transactions.
Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:) GLP-1 drugs – Zepbound is approved as a weight loss drug and Mounjaro is approved as a diabetes drug – compete with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic.
Lilly also uses Catalent to manufacture GLP-1 and diabetes drugs.
Lilly CEO David Rix criticized the deal. He told investors in August that while Lilly was building its own site, the company was concerned about “the oddity that our main competitor is also a contract manufacturer and how to resolve that situation.” He said he was there.
Demand for GLP-1 weight loss drugs in the United States exceeds supply, creating shortages and leading to an increase in compound versions made by combining, mixing, or changing drug ingredients.
Both Novo and Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs have been in short supply over the past two years, and a single dose of Novo’s Wigovy remains on the FDA’s shortage list.
Under President Joe Biden, the FTC believes that the combined company could block access to competitors’ supply chains or distribution locations or hand over sensitive competitive data, and They have called for the merger to be blocked.
