Novo Nordisk not planning more supply chain acquisitions: report

Novo Nordisk (NVO) management said it’s not planning any more supply chain acquisitions in the wake of its deal to buy drug manufacturer Catalent (CTLT) and reaffirmed that it will honor Catalent’s contracts with competitors.

In an interview with Reuters, Novo Nordisk executives said that its goal in acquiring Catalent was to expand capacity and not to disrupt supply chains for other companies.

“We would never disrupt medicines making it to patients,” Novo Nordisk’s head of business development, David Moore, told Reuters. “And so honoring agreement commitments has always been the foundation part of this.”

Moore added, ”If we’re able to gain access to these three sites, it’s about capitalizing on capacity that is idle today and that we could use going forward.”

Novo Nordisk executives also said it was too early to tell if the company would receive a “second request” for information about the merger from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Novo Nordisk's parent company announced in February that it had agreed to buy Catalent for $16.5B, with plans to sell three of Catalent’s plants to Novo Nordisk after the closing.

Since the deal was announced, concerns have been raised over how the merger might impact other drug companies that have relied on Catalent for production of certain medications, including rival Eli Lilly.(LLY)

The Federal Trade Commission is expected to look at whether those drug companies will be able to find alternative manufacturers if the Novo-Catalent deal is allowed to close, according to reports.