As­traZeneca-Alex­ion merg­er slides through FTC re­view af­ter sup­posed M&A crack­down pos­es no bar­ri­ers

The As­traZeneca-Alex­ion megamerg­er re­ceived a good sign Fri­day, de­spite warn­ing signs of the tides turn­ing against large M&A phar­ma deals.

US reg­u­la­tors at the FTC have cleared the ac­qui­si­tion for ap­proval, As­traZeneca an­nounced, all but sign­ing off on the deal to go through once it of­fi­cial­ly clos­es in the third quar­ter. As­traZeneca orig­i­nal­ly said it was plan­ning to buy out Alex­ion back in De­cem­ber for $39 bil­lion.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER