FILE PHOTO: A screen displays the share price for drugmaker AbbVie on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange July 18, 2014. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
November 1, 2019
(Reuters) – AbbVie Inc <ABBV.N> said on Friday it was in talks with several parties interested in buying the two assets it intends to divest for the completion of its $63 billion deal to buy drugmaker Allergan Plc <AGN.N>.
The company said it had notified the U.S. antitrust watchdog of its intention to divest its experimental inflammatory bowel disease therapy, brazikumab, and its treatment for a type of pancreatic disease, Zenpep.
The deal, which combines two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, had attracted U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) scrutiny following a request by a dozen advocacy groups and unions seeking to block the purchase.
The agency asked the companies for additional information in September that AbbVie said was not unexpected and that the companies were working through the FTC’s requests.
(Reporting by Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
