Japanese FTC concerned KHK merger was anticompetitive

The creation of Japan's Kyowa Hakko Kirin, through the merger of Kyowa Hakko and Kirin Pharma (Marketletter October 29, 2007), may harm  competition in the country's granulocyte-colony stimulating factor  market, according to the nation's Fair Trade Commission. The firm has  been in talks with the FTC since the merger and is proposing to sell its  NEU-UP (nartograstim), for the treatment of neutropenia resulting from  cancer chemotherapy, to recover its pre-merger status. The only other  G-CSF drugs on the Japanese market are KHK's own Gran (fligrastim) and  Chugai's Neutrogin (lenograstim).