Regulatory pressure prompted Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) and Merck & Co (MRK.N) to abandon plans for a joint animal health powerhouse with $5 billion in sales. The move sets back the French and U.S. drugmakers' plans to achieve economies of scale in the consolidating animal care industry, and comes a month after they delayed the long-running deal's closing by another six months. It is also a blow to companies that had hoped to snap up assets with about $500 million in annual revenue that the pair would have had to sell to clear regulatory hurdles.
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