Brussels, 22/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has given conditional authorisation to the take over of the Roche Consumer Health division of the Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche, by the German firm Bayer. This deal affects all assets in RCH as well as the five pharmaceutical production sites in Grenzach (Germany), Gaillard (France), Pilar (Argentina), Casablanca (Morocco) and Djakarta (Indonesia), and will lead to the creation of one of the largest European companies producing pharmaceutical produces without prescription.
Following its investigation, the Commission voiced serious doubts about the consequences of the operation on two markets: non-narcotic analgesics in Austria and antifungal preparations in Ireland. To get rid of competition problems, the two sides proposed selling off or granting licences for three products from the Roche laboratories. In the Austrian market, Bayer and Roche are in direct competition over their products, Aspirin and Aspro, and control more than 50% of market share. This market has experienced significant barriers to market entry, through advertising and sales costs that are very high. In order to guarantee credible competition, the two companies have agreed to sell off Aspro and Aspro C in Austria. On the Irish market, gains in market share due to the deal will be considerable given that Bayer and Roche are the two biggest companies in sales without prescription of anti-fungal preparations and competitors are smaller. They have therefore proposed to allow sales brands for existing formulas, Caldesene and Desenex.