Skip to main content

American Home Products Corporation (AHP) has requested Federal Trade Commission approval to divest its tetanus and diphtheria vaccines assets to Medeva PLC, and for a 90 day extension of the deadline to complete the divestiture. The application will be subject to public comment for 30 days until August 18.

AHP's corporate offices are located in Madison, New Jersey. Medeva is an international prescription pharmaceutical company headquartered in London.

Prior FTC approval of the divestiture is required under a 1994 Commission order that resulted from the FTC's challenge of

AHP's $9.7 billion acquisition of American Cyanamid Company. The Commission held that the acquisition could substantially reduce competition in the U.S. market for tetanus and diphtheria vaccines, certain biotechnology drugs used in treating cancer, and for research for a vaccine to treat rotavirus, a diarrheal disease that causes thousands of children's deaths annually. The proposed settlement required that AHP divest its tetanus and diphtheria vaccines business to a Commission-approved buyer, license Cyanamid's rotavirus research, and discontinue reporting arrangements with licensees that could provide competitivelysensitive information about cytokine drugs used in conjunction with chemotherapy.

In its application for approval to divest the vaccine business, AHP states that Medeva does not sell tetanus or diphtheria vaccines in the U.S. "Thus, the proposed divestiture would add a new competitor in the U.S. tetanus and diphtheria vaccines market," according to the application.

Comments on the application should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

Copies of the divestiture application and other documents in this matter are available from the FTC 's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, at the address listed above; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest FTC news as it is announced, call the FTC's NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC's World Wide Web Site at: http://www.ftc.gov

 

(FTC Docket No. C-3557)

Return to top