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Boehringer Ingelheim And Sanofi Look For CCI Approval For $25 B Global Asset Swap

European drug giants Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) have filed with the Competition Commission of India for local regulatory clearances that form part of their recently announced global asset swap deal worth $25 billion. The transaction, when completed, will see the $41 billion Sanofi take over Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer healthcare business, excluding China. In exchange, the French drug maker will transfer Merial, its global animal healthcare business, to the family-owned German pharmaceutical group.

In their filings to the anti-trust regulator late last week, the two companies submitted that the mutual transfers of neither the consumer healthcare business nor the animal health business will cause an appreciable adverse effect on the competition in any of the potential relevant markets in India. The commission will review if the two companies swapping their businesses will cause any adverse impact on the local competition.

Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim have been steadily growing their respective businesses in India in the animal health and consumer health products segments. In 2012, Sanofi’s animal health business had acquired Mumbai-based Dosch Pharma to bolster its national marketing and distribution presence, helped with 86 products under

50 brands for ruminants, poultry and companion animals.

In 2014, as part of its plans to establish and widen its consumer healthcare brands business, Boehringer Ingelheim halted its marketing partnership with Zydus Cadila for two gastrointestinal brands Buscopan and Dulcolax and relaunched those as Buscogast and Dulcoflex via its indigenous marketing division.

Swapping of assets is the latest trend witnessed in the global healthcare businesses. In 2014, CCI had cleared a three-way deal between Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly. As part of that deal, Novartis had agreed to acquire the oncology assets of GSK. In return, GSK took control of the vaccines business of Novartis. That apart, both drug makers agreed to form a joint venture for consumer healthcare products. As part of the same business rejig, GSK had sold its animal healthcare arm to US-based Eli Lilly.

Vennila is one of BioTecNika's Online Editors. When she is not posting news articles and jobs on the website, she can be found gardening or running off to far flung places for the next adventure, armed with a good book and mosquito repellant. Stalk her on her social networks to see what she does next.