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EU: Commission sets deadline for Novartis/Glaxo decision

By  |  December 1, 2014

The European Commission announced Monday that it will decide by January 14 whether to approve Swiss pharmaceutical conglomerate Novartis’s plans to merge with UK rival GlaxoSmithKline.

Novartis is set to acquire Glaxo’s oncology product unit in a $14.5 billion acquisition; an additional $1.5 billion would be paid pending results of an ongoing melanoma treatment trial, reports say.

Glaxo, meanwhile, would acquire Novartis’s vaccines operations, without the flu vaccine, for $5.25 billion, as well as potential royalties and milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion.

The Commission is investigating the terms of the transaction and will rule next month on the deal. The announcement comes days after the Commission approved of medical device maker Medtronic’s acquisition of Covidien for $43 billion, though regulators implemented concessions on the deal.

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