Glaxo SmithKline reaches agreement with US FTC

The ongoing saga of trying to get regulatory clearances to complete the Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merger by the end of the year received a signficant boost , when the two pharmaceutical companies reached agreement with US competition regulators. The merger, which was to have been completed by Augsut 2000, has been going through several legal hurdles from US regulators in the recent past. The merged entity, to be called GlaxoSmithKline, will be the world's largest pharmaceutical company.

An agreement was announced between the two companies and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the terms of a consent decree granting regulatory clearance for the merger. Under the agreement, SmithKline Beecham is expected to divest the anti-emetic product, Kytril, and the anti-viral products, Famivar and Vectavir/Denavir to meet merger conditions. Besides these two divestitures, the group is not expected to make any further concessions to win regulatory approval.

While the FTC has not made any commitment on the approval date, the two companies, in anticipation of the approval, have already filed a petition with the UK High Court to have their merger given legal sanction. The petition is to come up for hearing on 20 December.

The news of a possible regulatory approval overshadowed an announcement from SmithKline that it was abandoning clinical trials of its experimental heart drug Lotrafiban. The drug was in the final phase of trials but concerns have been raised over its safety and efficacy.