Washington, DC - Global pharmaceutical company Novartis AG has agreed to divest all assets related to its BRAF and MEK inhibitor drugs, currently in development, to Boulder, Colorado-based Array BioPharma to settle charges that Novartis’s $16 billion acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s portfolio of cancer-treatment drugs would likely be anticompetitive.

Physicians use BRAF and MEK inhibitors separately, and increasingly in combination, to treat melanoma. Both products are also being developed to treat a variety of other cancers. According to the complaint, the Switzerland-based Novartis and the London-based GSK are two of a small number of companies with either a BRAF or MEK inhibitor currently on the market or in development, and two of only three companies marketing or developing a BRAF/MEK combination product to treat melanoma.

If the acquisition goes forward as proposed, Novartis would likely delay or terminate development of both its BRAF and MEK inhibitors, as well as the combination product. For that reason, Novartis’s acquisition of GSK’s portfolio of cancer-treatment drugs would likely cause significant competitive harm in the U.S. markets for both the BRAF and MEK inhibitors, ultimately raising prices for consumers and depriving them of potentially superior products.

Under the terms of the proposed consent agreement, Novartis is required to provide transitional services to Array BioPharma to ensure that development of the BRAF and MEK inhibitors continues uninterrupted and that competition in BRAF and MEK inhibitor markets is not reduced.

Throughout the investigation, Commission staff cooperated with staff of the antitrust agencies in Australia, Canada, and the European Union, working closely on the analysis of the proposed transaction and potential remedies. This coordination led to compatible approaches on a global scale, and included FTC and European Commission approval of Array BioPharma as the buyer of the divested assets.

More information about the FTC’s consent agreement can be found in the analysis to aid public comment.

The Commission vote to accept the complaint and proposed consent order for public comment was 5-0. The FTC will publish the consent agreement package in the Federal Register shortly. The agreement will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through March 25, 2015, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Comments can be filed electronically, or in paper form by following the instructions in the “Supplementary Information” section of the Federal Register notice.