The ACCC promotes competition and fair trade in markets to benefit consumers, businesses, and the community.
In May this year, Apotex Australia announced a merger of their Australian and New Zealand generic pharmaceutical and over-the-counter (OTC) operations with Arrow Pharmaceuticals.
The combined firm is said to distribute around half the market for generic prescription pharmaceuticals to pharmacies in Australia.
In July this year, the Australian regulator began a review of the proposed acquisition.
Arrow, which is a subsidiary of Indian firm Strides Shasun, imports and supplies generic prescription and OTC pharmaceuticals to hospitals and pharmacies..
The company also distributes small amount of branded originator drugs under licence and branded OTC pharmaceuticals.
Arrow owns the Chemists Own generic brand and acquired Amneal Pharmaceuticals in August 2017.
The company also has 51% stake in Pharmacy Alliance, which is an independent pharmacy network membership of around 650 member pharmacies.
Arrow also owns 50% stake in Oraderm Pharmaceuticals, which supplies two prescription medicines such as Acitretin and Isotretinoin in Australia.
Apotex also imports and supplies generic prescription and OTC pharmaceuticals to hospitals and pharmacies, as well as distributes branded originator drugs under licence, vaccine products, and vitamin and mineral products.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims said: “Any deal that combines two of the four largest competitors in a market will require close scrutiny. However, we found that a combined Arrow-Apotex would continue to face strong competition from Mylan and Sandoz, and to a lesser extent from short range suppliers like Generic Health and Pharmacor.
“The ability for pharmacies to pick and choose suppliers for individual generic pharmaceutical products also acts as a competitive constraint.”
Strides owns majority stake in Generic Partners, which is an international pharmaceutical firm with operations in Australia. It is mainly engaged in sourcing and supplying molecules for distributors.
The ACCC’s decision has been welcomed by Strides and Apotex.