The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose the proposed merger between Arrow Pharmaceuticals and Sigma Group, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
"A significant concern was whether the merged company would have an incentive to discriminate against competing generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in its wholesale distribution and pharmacy banner group operations", he said. "The ACCC decided that this was unlikely, as there was no evidence that Sigma had previously been able to use its wholesaling and banner group operations to discriminate in favour of Sigma pharmaceuticals over those manufactured by its competitors".
Sigma and Arrow also compete to supply pharmaceuticals to a limited range of pharmaceutical markets, in all of which there are several other competitors. In addition, the ACCC was satisfied that the proposed merger would not raise competition concerns at the wholesale distribution level, given Arrow's limited wholesaling operations.
Sigma is one of three Australian wholesalers offering a comprehensive range of pharmaceuticals to pharmacists. Sigma also manufactures pharmaceuticals and provides marketing and sales services to pharmacists through its pharmacy banner groups which include Amcal and Guardian.
Arrow markets and distributes generic pharmaceuticals as well as certain prescription medications.