Two major transactions in the medical field received US antitrust approval: Medtronic's $43 billion acquisition of Covidien, GSK and Novartis' $22 billion asset swap

Source: Biovalley, November 28, 2014, recently, the U.S Antitrust regulatory authority approved two major transactions in the field of medicine One is that Medtronic, the U.S medical giant, acquired Covidien, an Irish counterpart, for $43 billion The other is between GSK, a British pharmaceutical giant, and Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical giant $billion in asset replacement The FTC has approved Medtronic's 43 billion acquisition of Covidien on the condition that Medtronic sells its drug coated balloon catheter business At the same time, FTC also approved the transaction between Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline on vaccine part and consumer health care, on the condition that Novartis sells its Habitrol nicotine patch The FTC points out that Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline are two of three companies that sell nicotine patches to U.S retailers Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline's asset replacement transactions reflect the current development trend of the pharmaceutical industry, that is, the major companies focus on their strongest business In April, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline reached an asset replacement agreement to transfer the vaccine business (excluding influenza vaccine) to GlaxoSmithKline for us $7.1 billion, while acquiring GlaxoSmithKline's tumor business for us $14.5 billion In addition, Novartis OTC will form a joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline's consumer business, in which Novartis holds 36.5% of the shares and GlaxoSmithKline 63.5% Novartis, on the other hand, divested its animal health business to Eli Lilly, a US pharmaceutical giant, for $5.4 billion In another transaction, Medtronic, the US medical giant, is the world's largest independent medical equipment manufacturer with a market value of US $61 billion It has a wide range of products, ranging from cardiac defibrillators and stents to insulin pumps and spinal implants The company is a leader in spinal therapy and pacemaker markets Covidien is an Irish manufacturer of surgical equipment, mainly focusing on the R & D and sales of surgical instruments such as surgical sutures and ventilators, with a market value of about US $32 billion The acquisition will enable Medtronic to compete with JNJ, the industry leader, and through this transaction, Medtronic can move its headquarters to Ireland where Covidien is located, so as to take advantage of the low local tax rate and reduce the total global tax burden of Medtronic.