The acquisition was on hold as the Federal Trade Commission conducted an eight-month investigation into the proposed acquisition. After the agreement between the companies was announced in July 2011, FTC began the investigation, which examined whether the effect of the merger may be to substantially reduce competition for the provision of pharmacy benefit management services within the United States.
FTC also considered whether the merger might unduly increase the merged entity’s bargaining power with pharmacies, and whether the merger might harm consumers of specialty pharmaceuticals for patients with rare, complex or chronic conditions.
The FTC vote on the motion to close the investigation was 3-1.
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