The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) has given its assent to the proposed acquisition of MorphoSys AG (MorphoSys) by Novartis AG (Switzerland) (Novartis). MorphoSys is global bio-tech company specializing in the development of drugs for treatment of Leukaemia – “Pelabresib”, whereas, Novarties produces drugs for nearly all major medical fields including “Ruxolitinib” for Leukaemia. Bundeskartellamt highlighted the relevance of transaction value threshold which allowed it to examine the proposed acquisition, which would otherwise had been out of the purview of examination. However, Bundeskartellamt on finding a large number of possible alternatives, in development phase or already available in the market, to Novartis & MorphoSys’ offering opined that the acquisition is not expected to “significantly impede effective competition” in the affected markets.
