U.S. FTC okays changes to Bristol Meyers Squibb divestiture agreement

(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Friday it approved certain modifications to Bristol Meyers Squibb’s previously approved divestiture agreement and incorporated the modifications into its consent order for the drugmaker’s 2019 acquisition of Celgene Corp.

The modifications relate to certain confidential provisions of agreements that Bristol Meyers Squibb made to divest the psoriasis treatment drug, Otezla to rival Amgen. They will ensure that Amgen’s Otezla will stay competitive in the market, the FTC said in a statement.

As a condition of Bristol Meyers Squibb’s acquisition of Celgene, the FTC required the drugmaker to divest the drug to Amgen, the FTC said.

The $13.4 billion divestiture settled FTC charges that Bristol Meyers Squibb’s proposed $74 billion acquisition of Celgene would violate federal antitrust law, according to the FTC.

Bristol Myers bought Celgene for $80.3 billion in cash and stock in November 2019.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in BengaluruEditing by Chris Reese)