Pfizer-Wyeth Merger

Pfizer Inc. and the law firms of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP retained Compass Lexecon to provide economic analysis in connection with the successful merger of Pfizer and Wyeth. Valued at about $65 billion, this was the largest merger or acquisition in 2009. The merger integrated Wyeth’s expertise in biologic drugs with Pfizer’s capabilities in small molecule drugs and its large distribution network. Compass Lexecon organized a team effort, led by Richard Gilbert, to address several issues of concern to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which was the lead antitrust enforcement agency for the merger. Professor Gilbert authored two white papers dealing with the effects of the transaction on pharmaceutical research and development and on the development of new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease in particular. Professor Gilbert also co-authored a series of other papers with Compass Lexecon experts Vince Warther, Gilad Levin, and Jim Ratliff on whether the combined company was “too big to fail,” the impact of the merger-related debt on the ability of the combined company to compete, and whether the merger facilitated anticompetitive bundling. We worked with Scott Stempel of Morgan, Lewis and Rick Rule of Cadwalader.