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FTC issues complaint to block Omnicare’s acquisition of PharMerica

By  |  January 30, 2012

The FTC issued an administrative complaint to block Omnicare’s bid for a hostile acquisition of its biggest and only U.S. rival, PharMerica. Omnicare and PharMerica are long-term care pharmacies, which work with institutional providers like skilled nursing facilities. The FTC believes that the merger would allow Omnicare to raise the price of drugs for Medicare Part D because the number of skilled nursing facilities receiving services from Omnicare would “dramatically increas[e],” thereby also increasing Omnicare’s bargaining power to raise the price of drugs to Part D health plans.

The complaint alleges that the acquisition would violate Section 5 of the FTC Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act. The deal would result in a combined provider serving approximately 57 percent of all licensed SNF beds in the United States.

An administrative law judge will hear the case in June of this year.

Source: FTC Press Release