FTC pauses challenge of Amgen’s $28B Horizon takeover to consider settlement

The FTC is paus­ing its chal­lenge of Am­gen’s pro­posed $28 bil­lion buy­out of Hori­zon Ther­a­peu­tics for sev­er­al weeks to ex­plore al­ter­na­tive ways of re­solv­ing the case, in­clud­ing a pos­si­ble set­tle­ment.

The move, dis­closed in a fil­ing on the FTC’s web­site, marks the lat­est twist in a case that sparked out­cry from drug­mak­ers, claim­ing it would cast a cloud over bio­phar­ma deal­mak­ing. As the FTC takes time to con­sid­er what it calls a “prop­er res­o­lu­tion,” it al­so opens the door to the deal clos­ing with­out a le­gal fight.

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