The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of Baxalta Inc. by Shire plc. Baxalta is a global pharmaceutical company incorporated in the United States. It specialises in rare diseases and advancing innovative therapies in haematology, immunology and oncology. Shire is a Jersey-registered, Irish-headquartered global specialty biopharmaceutical company active in neuroscience, gastrointestinal and internal medicine, ophthalmics and rare diseases. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns. Although both companies focus on the development of treatments for specific rare diseases, they target different diseases with dissimilar therapeutic indications and only have in common the fact that a small number of patients suffers from these diseases. Their businesses are therefore complementary. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. More information is available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.7951.
