Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Federal Trade Commission is blocking Amgen’s $28 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Amgen is buying Horizon because it wants to raise prices on specialty drugs. The FTC is right to block the deal,” said Sara Sirota, Policy Analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The logic of the $28 billion acquisition is simple: Amgen hopes to take advantage of monopoly protections for the FDA-designated ‘orphan’ drugs Tepezza and Krystexxa to price gouge patients with rare diseases.”

“Amgen and Horizon both have track records of predatory behavior,” added Sirota. “Amgen created a so-called ‘patent thicket’ around its blockbuster arthritis treatment Enbrel, allowing it to raise prices more than 450% since buying the drug in 2002. Now, Embrel is one of the highest-grossing drugs of all time. Horizon, meanwhile, is known for hiking prices, pushing ‘combination drugs’ of questionable value and buying up its rivals to avoid competition.”

“In challenging this deal, the FTC is sending a strong message to drug makers: preying on American consumers struggling to afford and access their medicine won’t go unchallenged,” said Sirota.

In December, Amgen announced its plan to buy Horizon Therapeutics for $28 billion, making it the largest healthcare merger proposed in 2022. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) urged the FTC to scrutinize the deal in January, emphasizing the companies’ histories of unfair conduct. And just last week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a report detailing Amgen’s price-gouging and tax evasion practices.

Amgen is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States, with more than $26 billion in 2022 revenue. Horizon Therapeutics specializes in “orphan” drugs, a classification for rare disease treatments that receive special monopoly protections from the government.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.