Zurich, Feb 25: Roche Holding AG won the final green light for its $11-billion acquisition of Bermuda-based Corange Ltd when US regulators conditionally approved the deal, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group said on Wednesday.The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allowed the biggest takeover in Roche history, giving it the holding company comprising German diagnostics and drugs group Boehringer Mannheim and US Orthopaedics maker DePuy Inc.
Roche said in a statement the transaction would be closed within the next 10 working days. It had already been approved by regulators in the European Union (EU), Canada, Australia and Switzerland.
FTC approval hinged on the condition that the acquisition does not give Roche a dominant position in the market for thrombolytics, it said.
"Roche has accordingly agreed to sell Centocor Inc the US and Canadian rights to Boehringer Mannheim's Retavase after the acquisition is completed," it said. Retavase is a drug for treating heart attacks.
Centocor said this month it waspaying $335 million in cash for the rights to the drug.
"A second condition imposed by the US authorities calls for Roche to sell Boehringer Mannheim's drugs of abuse (CEDIA line) business after the takeover. Talks have already been initiated with various potential buyers," it said.
A Roche spokesman said its acquisition of Corange was still attractive despite the conditions.
"The FTC conditions are not unimportant, but they don't diminish the attraction of the acquisition overall. It is still a very attractive acquisition," he said.
"First of all we are very happy that finally this approval has come," he added.
"It finishes a period of uncertainty for our employees, and now together with our employees and their representatives...we can proceed expeditiously with the integration," he said.
The drug-abuse testing business to be sold conducts only laboratory tests and is "not substantial", he said, adding that Roche gets to keep its front-line drugs testing products often used by police andemployers.Roche said the takeover would make it a global leader in diagnostics and strengthen its drugs business. It also gives Roche access to the "highly promising" market for orthopaedics products.
EU approval of the deal came earlier this month and entailed what analysts called only minor conditions.
Brussels required Roche to make its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology accessible to all competitors. PCR acts like an enlarger and photocopier of DNA and allows crucial changes in genes to be identified quickly.
Roche said at the time the step was good because licensing PCR more widely will spread the technology and make it an industry standard.
The EU also told Roche to sell its rights to the Cobas MIRAline of clinical chemical analysers within the EU. Roche will retain its rights to the business in other markets.
Roche has said the condition was not substantial for the business as a whole.
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