WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that it will require Stericycle Inc. to divest certain infectious waste collection and treatment services assets in order to proceed with its acquisition of MedServe Inc. The department said the transaction, as originally proposed, would substantially lessen competition in infectious waste collection and treatment services to hospitals and other critical healthcare facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma, resulting in higher prices and reduced service. The department’s Antitrust Division, along with the attorneys general of the states of Missouri and Nebraska, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to block the proposed transaction. At the same time, the department and the two attorneys general filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns alleged in the lawsuit.