Brussels, 03/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has given the go-ahead to the proposed purchase by Siemens AG of Bayer Diagnostics, the diagnostics arm of Bayer Healthcare. Siemens has a very wide range of activities, and is active in the medical systems sector, especially in the in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) branch, since its purchase of Diagnostics Products Corporation in July 2006. Bayer Diagnostics is also active in this area, designing, manufacturing and marketing IVD systems for hospitals and medical laboratories. These IVD systems comprise specialised equipment and reagants which permit diagnostic tests to be carried out to identify and measure substances in samples (tissue or blood) taken from patients. With both firms being active in the immunochemistry sector, a sub-branch of IVD diagnostics, which involves diagnostics for fertility, allergy, cancer and other pathologies, the transaction will create one of the largest groups on the European and world markets, the Commission noted. Investigation showed, however, that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of the two parties would not allow them to raise prices for laboratories or consumers. There are alternative firms able to replace Siemens and Bayer Diagnostics in the event of price increases, said the Commission, adding that there would still be strong competition on the market. (ab)