Two biotech stocks are about to become one in a big new deal, but that deal won’t happen before September 15. Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) will not buy Horizon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HZNP) until that date arrives, thanks to a deal between Amgen and the Federal Trade Commission. The move left Amgen shareholders mildly chagrined and left Amgen stock down slightly in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
The only way it can go through sooner is if a court rules on the case in which the FTC called on courts to shut the deal down. This is in line with Horizon’s own expectations, which call for the deal to close by either the end of the third quarter or the start of the fourth—which is right around September 15—as long as federal courts tell the FTC to take a hike on this one.
The FTC asserted that Amgen’s purchase of Horizon would “stifle competition” in pharmaceutical trades. This is a move both Amgen and Horizon stringently deny; Amgen noted that it already has “overwhelmingly demonstrated” that the merger won’t impact competition, and Horizon noted that it “does not and has no plans” to start “cross-market bundling.” Given that there were, as of 2021, 6,653 biotech firms operating in the United States, it’s tough to see how two of them merging will somehow render the remaining 6,652 useless and unable to compete.
Analysts, however, are currently split on Amgen’s future. With five Buy, five Hold, and two Sell ratings, Amgen stock is currently rated as a Hold by analyst consensus. Further, with an average price target of $259, Amgen stock offers investors a 16.33% upside potential.
