Healthcare Business Review: Watson Gets EU Approval, Stryker’s Bad News

Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:WPI) sees its proposed purchase of the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Actavis okayed by the European Commission, which commented in its statement that “Despite significant changes in the competitive situation in some of the markets, a sufficient number of credible and strong competitors will continue to exercise a competitive constraint on the merged entity.”

Shares of Questcor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:QCOR) dip and rebound following United Healthcare’s Oxford Policy Update, which published revised Acthar approval timeframes, restricting the use of the firm’s Acthar Gel.

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Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) shares move slightly down on the news that the FDA has received a report of a death stemming from the company’s Neptune 2. These devices collect fluid waste during surgery, and have already been connected with earlier fatalities.

Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) divests one of its acute inpatient psychiatric facilities in the Texas/New Mexico region, so as to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed purchase of Ascend Health would be anti-competitive.

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