LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) � Shares of PharMerica Corp. fell sharply late Friday after a U.S. regulatory agency sought to block an acquisition bid for the pharmacy-management services firm, while Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Alkermes PLC climbed after the companies received regulatory approval of their diabetes treatment.
PharMerica Corp. PMC �shares slid 14% at $12.30 after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint aimed at blocking Omnicare Inc.�s OCR �bid for its rival. Omnicare�s late-traded shares shed 1.4% to $32.60 in scant volume.
The FTC said in a statement that it sees the combination of the two largest U.S. long-term care pharmacies as harmful to competition, and will enable Omnicare to raise the price of drugs for Medicare Part D consumers and others. The FTC also cited concerns by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the Health and Human Services Department, that the deal if completed will likely result in higher reimbursement rates.
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�If Omnicare is allowed to purchase its biggest and only national competitor, it will diminish competition and raise health-care costs � leaving taxpayers and patients to foot the bill,� said Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC�s bureau of competition, in a statement.
PharMerica rejected a $456 million bid from Omnicare in August, prompting Omnicare to take its offer directly to PharMerica shareholders. Omnicare earlier Friday extended to Feb. 17 its tender offer to buy all of PharMerica�s shares for $15 each. As of Thursday, about 16% of all PharMerica�s outstanding shares had been tendered, according to Omnicare.
Amylin shares AMLN surged 17% to $14.25 and Alkermes shares ALKS gained 4.7% to $19.99. The biopharmaceutical companies said shortly before the start of the evening session that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Bydureon to treat Type 2 diabetes.
The newly approved drug is a once-weekly administered version of Amylin�s popular diabetes treatment Byetta. Bydureon will also carry a warning advising that it might cause acute pancreatitis or raise the risk of developing a certain type of thyroid cancer.
Amylin shares through Friday�s trading session had advanced almost 7% this year. Over the 12 months, they�ve fallen 26%. Alkermes shares had gained 10% in 2012, and have risen about 45% over the past year.
During the regular session, most U.S. stocks finished lower following a weaker-than-expected pace of growth in the U.S. economy during the fourth quarter. The economy expanded 2.8%, less than the 3% forecast by analysts surveyed by MarketWatch. Read about Friday's losses among U.S. stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �fell 74 points, or 0.6%, at 12,660.46. The S&P 500 Index SPX fell 0.2% at 1,316.33. But the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �managed a 0.4% advance to 2,816.55.
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