The European Commission today approved the joint venture between Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) for their over-the-counter (OTC) drug business under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission concluded that the venture would not raise competition concerns because it would not significantly alter the market structure.
The Commission's examination of the proposed venture focused on topical antirheumatics and analgesics and expectorants, in particular in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The Commission found that in all these markets the combined market shares of the parties remain relatively low and P&G would continue to face sufficient competitive constraints exerted by other companies in the affected markets.
Teva's initial OTC joint venture with P&G was approved in 2011. The present approval concerns the OTC products that Teva acquired from Cephalon in 2011. The European Commission said that it last examined the affected markets in October 2011, when Teva acquired Cephalon's then existing OTC business. The competitive conditions in these markets have not materially changed since then. As a result, the Commission concluded that the venture would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it.
In November 2011, Teva and Procter & Gamble launched PGT Healthcare, a joint venture in consumer health care and OTC medicines. The Geneva-based joint venture will operate worldwide, except for North America, for which the partnership will develop new brands. The companies said that PGT Healthcare, a new model in the industry, will focus on best-in-class development and state-of-the-art commercialization of branded OTC medicines, by combining each company’s complementary capabilities in the OTC medicines market.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 12, 2012
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