The intended $3.1 billion acquisition of plasma product company Talecris Biotherapeutics, of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, by rival firm CSL, of Melbourne, Australia, has come undone. First announced in August 2008, signs of trouble surfaced in October, when the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requested additional information on the merger, and by May this year, Australian media were speculating that the deal was in danger. CSL managing director and CEO Brian McNamee went to Washington, DC, to speak with FTC officials, but the FTC authorized a lawsuit by the end of the month challenging the buyout, saying the move was anticompetitive and violated anti-trust laws. Specifically, the FTC said the acquisition would reduce the number of competitors in the US markets for immune globulin and albumin from five to four, and US competitors for Rho-D and Alpha-1 antitrypsin would be reduced from three to two. Though there was initial opposition, the “reality was we had a break-fee date” of August 12, says McNamee. A judge's decision was not expected until September, leading both sides to “bite the bullet and end the uncertainties of the deal,” he says. CSL will pay Talecris a $75 million break-up fee, though the plasma supply agreement the companies struck at the time of the merger will continue through 2013.