STAT+: Catalent tries to reassure customers about its deal with Novo Holdings

Catalent, a leading contract drug manufacturer, issued an open letter on Monday to reassure customers that a proposed $16.5 billion deal — in which it would be acquired by Novo Nordisk’s parent — will not raise competitive concerns or diminish its ability to provide services to other drug companies.

Catalent is an attractive buyout target for Novo Holdings — which owns 77% of the voting shares in the drugmaker — because it is currently a subcontractor that helps manufacture Wegovy, the widely prescribed weight loss drug. But one part of the plan has raised questions: Assuming the deal clears regulatory hurdles, Novo Holdings intends to sell three Catalent facilities to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion.

From the day the deal was announced last February, the prospect that Novo Holdings might soon control one of the biggest players in pharmaceutical contract work — Catalent operates nearly 50 plants across more than a dozen countries around the world — has prompted speculation about whether regulators will object on anti-competitive grounds.

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