WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Nov. 14 that it had approved a final order that will remedy the anti-competitive effects that could have came about had Abbot’s $8.3 billion acquisition of Alere gone unchecked.
The parties in the case will need to make significant investments to continue to the acquisition, as per the consent order. They will specifically divest two point-of-care medical device product lines—point-of-care blood gas testing systems and point-of-care cardiac marker testing systems.
The blood gas systems measure blood pH, oxygen, carbon dioxide and electrolyte levels. The cardiac marker systems help determine whether a patient is experiencing a heart attack or congestive heart failure based on the measurement of specific proteins.
Alere’s blood gas testing system will be divested to Siemens Aktiengelsellschaft. Alere’s cardiac marker testing system will be divested to Quidel Corporation.
The complaint was first announced in September when the FTC alleged the acquisition would harm U.S. competition for these two devices.
The FTC voted 2-0 to approve the final order. Aylin M. Skroejer of the Bureau of Competition is the staff contact for the case.