Nearly 500 days after it was first announced, the deal to merge Mylan and Pfizer’s Upjohn off-patent and mature brands unit into Viatris has closed. The transaction overcame a swathe of regulatory approvals, which included a stinging rebuke from the US competition watchdog; a near $12bn round of financing necessary to separate Upjohn from its parent; and the fallout from a global pandemic that considerably stymied proceedings, adding nearly half a year to completion.
Mylan had offered clear indications that a significant – perhaps even transformative – deal was brewing. Eleven months before the...
