Patent Law Practice Center

FTC Says Thermo Fischer Must Sell Assets to GE Healthcare

On January 31, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a global manufacturer and distributor of scientific products, laboratory equipment and consumables headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, agreed to sell assets to GE Healthcare. This asset sale settles FTC charges that Thermos’ proposed $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies Corporation (Life), headquartered in Carlsbad, California, would likely substantially lessen competition.

The FTC complaint challenging the transaction alleges that the deal as originally proposed would have eliminated competition between Life and Thermo Fisher, which supplies siRNA reagents under its Dharmacon brand, and cell culture media and sera under its HyClone brand. The FTC specifically charged the acquisition would substantially increase concentration in the markets for short/small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) reagents, cell culture media, and cell culture sera, enabling the combined firm to raise prices and reduce quality for consumers.

The proposed order settling the FTC’s charges requires Thermo Fisher to divest its gene modulation business, Dharmacon, which contains the siRNA reagents business, as well as its cell culture media and sera business including the HyClone brand to GE Healthcare, along with all intellectual property and know-how necessary to operate each of the divested businesses.

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