U.S., Canadian regulators approve Pfizer-Wyeth deal

NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc.‘s $68 billion purchase of Wyeth will close Thursday after antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Canada cleared the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission says it approved the deal, and Pfizer says the Canadian Competition Bureau also gave its blessing. Pfizer will have to sell about half of Wyeth’s animal health business and change a Canadian distribution agreement, and the company said it will also sell its horse vaccine business.

German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim will buy those divisions, including Wyeth’s vaccines for cattle, dogs, and cats, and medicines used in treating cattle, dogs, cats, and horses. Wyeth has a major presence in the Richmond area where it produces among other products, ChapStick.

The sale will pump up the pipeline of New York-based Pfizer by giving it Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth’s biotech drugs and vaccines.