--- title: Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger description: The Democratic candidates for president all slammed the $160-billion Pfizer-Allergan merger on Monday canonical: https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T19:24:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:51.702Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger og:description: Hillary Clinton said she would call for new steps to prevent mega-mergers og:url: https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe9f0a9d2f2f2152/69887274524fc09b16df59e7/gettyimages-4979182681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger twitter:description: Hillary Clinton said she would call for new steps to prevent mega-mergers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe9f0a9d2f2f2152/69887274524fc09b16df59e7/gettyimages-4979182681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Pfizer And Allergan Set To Merge For Record $150B [Watch (HLS stream): Pfizer And Allergan Set To Merge For Record $150B](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VbnmEJrg.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2015-11-23. Drug company giants Pfizer and Allergan are poised to merge, which would make it one of the largest in history._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 23, 2015 7:24 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 19: Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks on stage at AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere at the DOC NYC on November 19, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for AOL) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 19: Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks on stage at AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere at the DOC NYC on November 19, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for AOL)Larry Busacca—Getty Images for AOL by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 23, 2015 7:24 PM UTC The Democratic Presidential candidates all slammed [the $160-billion Pfizer-Allergan merger](http://time.com/4123957/pfizer-allergan-merger-pharmaceuticals/) on Monday, calling it a brazen tool for the company to shield its profits from federal taxes. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley all separately released statements damning the deal and calling it unfair. The deal would relocate the company’s legal and tax residency to Ireland as part of a controversial tax-saving strategy. Clinton said she would call for new steps to prevent mega-mergers that “disadvantage small businesses and domestic firms that cannot game the international tax system.” “This proposed merger, and so-called ‘inversions’ by other companies, will leave U.S. taxpayers holding the bag,” Clinton said. “As President, I will fight to reform our tax system to reward growth, innovation, and job creation here in the United States.” Sanders called on President Obama to stop the merger, saying it “would be a disaster for American consumers who already pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs” and would “allow another major American corporation to hide its profits overseas.” O’Malley called the deal “fundamentally unfair” and said he would “aggressively enforce our antitrust laws to counter dramatic price increases in healthcare.” All of the Democratic candidates have called for measures to reduce the cost of healthcare and regulate the pharmaceutical industry. The Pfizer-Allergan deal will be subject to regulatory scrutiny. **Read more:** [Pfizer, Allergan Agree on $160 Billion Merger](http://time.com/4123957/pfizer-allergan-merger-pharmaceuticals/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/"},"headline":"Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger","datePublished":"2015-11-23T19:24:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:51.702Z","description":"Clinton said she would call for new steps to prevent mega-mergers","url":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe9f0a9d2f2f2152/69887274524fc09b16df59e7/gettyimages-4979182681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe9f0a9d2f2f2152/69887274524fc09b16df59e7/gettyimages-4979182681.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere","caption":"AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere","creditText":"Larry Busacca—Getty Images for AOL","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/","name":"Democratic Candidates Condemn Pfizer-Allergan Merger"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Pfizer And Allergan Set To Merge For Record $150B","description":"Drug company giants Pfizer and Allergan are poised to merge, which would make it one of the largest in history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VbnmEJrg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-23T15:02:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VbnmEJrg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/","duration":"PT1M6S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4124620/clinton-sanders-omalley-pfizer-allergan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```