After announcing a deal to acquire Celgene in a cash and stock transaction valued at $74 billion in January 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb received approval for the merger from the FTC. Bristol-Myers Squibb asserts that the merger represents an opportunity for the two companies to create “a leading biopharma company” that is “well positioned to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines, and to transform the lives of more patients through science.” As a condition of the approval, the FTC required Celgene to divest its ownership of the psoriasis drug, Otezla, which Amgen agreed to purchase in August. Bristol-Myers Squibb expects to close the transaction on November 20.