FTC Requests Public Comment on Application from Grifols, S.A. to Amend Contract Manufacturing Agreement that was part of 2011 Divestiture Ordered by the Agency

The Federal Trade Commission is currently accepting public comments on an application by Grifols, S.A., a manufacturer of plasma-derived drugs, to amend the terms of a manufacturing agreement that was part of a 2011 FTC-ordered divestiture. The order settled charges that Grifols’ $3.4 billion acquisition of competitor Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. was anticompetitive.

Under the order, the Commission required the parties to divest the Talecris fractionation facility in Melville, New York, and Grifols’ plasma collection centers in Mobile, Alabama, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Kedrion S.p.A.

The proposed changes to the agreement extend the duration of the existing contract manufacturing agreement to enable Kedrion to continue to compete in the United States. The changes also allow Kedrion to provide Grifols with plasma for both fractionation and purification into finished products, which Kedrion will be able to re-sell. Kedrion is simultaneously working to develop its own purification capabilities, which will be subject to FDA approval. Without the changes to the agreement, Kedrion will not have finished product available for sale.

The Commission will decide whether to approve the application after a 30-day public comment period, which expires on July 28, 2017. Comments can also be filed electronically or sent to: FTC Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC File No. 1010153, Docket No. C-4322; the staff contact is Dan Ducore, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2526.)

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