U.S. consumer groups and two large labor unions urged the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday to block Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk , from acquiring contract drug manufacturer Catalent ,

Five U.S. consumer groups and two big labor unions are pushing for the Federal Trade Commission to block Novo Nordisk Foundation's planned $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent (NYSE:CTLT), arguing that a deal would hurt competition in weigh-loss drugs.

Novo Holdings is encountering more resistance as it aims to close its $16.5 billion acquisition of pharma manufacturing giant Catalent by the end of the year. | A dozen consumer groups and trade unions penned a letter to Lina Khan,

The coalition said in a letter sent to the FTC Thursday that the deal could reduce access to GLP-1s, and harm competition in development of cell and gene therapies.