Bundeskartellamt Clears Acquisition of Biotest by Grifols who Works on Blood Plasma

Rekabet Hukuku

The German Competition Authority (“Bundeskartellamt”) published a press release on its website on the 7 March 2022 that it has cleared the acquisition of the international pharmaceutical company Grifols AS based in Spain to acquire Biotest AG based in Dreieich (Hesse). 

The companies use human blood plasma to produce liquid pharmaceuticals, so-called plasma derivatives. They are used in cancer therapy and intensive care and to treat immune system deficiencies, coagulation disorders, and other chronic diseases.

Plasma-based drugs can be replaced by biotechnologically produced pharmaceuticals in a few cases only. Nevertheless, there will still be sufficient alternative providers to choose from after the merger since in addition to Grifols and Biotest, the leading company CSL Behring (Australia/USA), Octapharma (Switzerland), and Takeda (Japan), among others, are active in the markets. These companies are all active both in the EEA and in Germany.

Manufacturers of plasma derivatives such as Grifols run their donation centers especially in the USA because of depending on blood plasma. In Europe the volume of donations is limited. Due to its Chinese investor, Biotest has so far been prevented from operating donation centers in the USA. The parties see the merger as an opportunity to not only increase the volume of donations, but also the number of drugs obtained from the donated plasma.

You can reach the full text of the press release here.

 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr