On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) (each an Agency, and collectively, the Agencies) released a long-awaited draft version of revised Merger...more
7/21/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Guidance Update ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Vertical Mergers
On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Premerger...more
The start of 2023 has been a busy one, with global antitrust agencies advancing investigations and challenging a number of technology acquisitions. Future antitrust enforcement could also be shaped by new digital market...more
6/15/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Adobe ,
Antitrust Division ,
Broadcom ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Divestiture ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Microsoft ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Remedies ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Our prior updates covered how FTC enforcement activity largely proceeded “as usual” during 2022 in the life sciences industry, with large pharmaceutical players buying or licensing promising, but still risky, assets from...more
5/25/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Amgen ,
Corporate Practice of Medicine ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Popular
Department of Justice Withdraws Long-Standing Antitrust Healthcare Policy Statements -
On February 2, 2023, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the withdrawal of its support for three...more
5/24/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Amazon ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Certificates of Public Advantage (COPAs) ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Practice of Medicine ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
No-Poaching ,
Policy Statement ,
Popular ,
Wage-Fixing
2022 saw a major uptick in antitrust scrutiny and enforcement, primarily related to vertical transactions by large technology companies. Meta/Within, Microsoft/Activision, and Broadcom/VMware (among others) faced resistance...more
2/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Broadcom ,
Competition ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Microsoft ,
Popular ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
M&A activity in the life sciences space proceeded largely as usual in 2022, with most transactions receiving expected levels of agency scrutiny and closing in the normal course despite aggressive rhetoric from new leadership...more
2/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Amgen ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biotechnology ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
GlaxoSmithKline ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Novo Nordisk ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
The Impact of the FTC’s Proposed Sweeping Ban on Non-Competes -
On January 5, 2023, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule (the Proposed Rule) that would define an employer’s use of...more
2/22/2023
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
On November 10, 2022 (following its January 2021 withdrawal of its 2015 policy statement regarding enforcement under Section 5 of the FTC Act), the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “the Commission”) issued a new statement...more
11/14/2022
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Legislative History ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Section 5 ,
Section 7 ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
Summary -
..The FTC and DOJ suffered twin setbacks in the healthcare space. In both UnitedHealth/Change and Illumina/Grail, the agencies’ reliance on more novel theories of harm failed to convince skeptical judges....more
11/11/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Vertical Mergers
Two major technology companies, Meta and Microsoft, continue to defend their acquisitions against challenges from antitrust regulators. The FTC dropped one of the two claims underlying its challenge of Meta’s acquisition of...more
11/10/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Microsoft ,
Mobile Apps ,
Popular ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The third quarter in the life sciences space showed that business is generally proceeding as usual, with large pharma players successfully acquiring or licensing in clinical stage assets without running into antitrust delays....more
11/10/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
GlaxoSmithKline ,
Health Technology ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Metadata ,
Mobile Apps ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Virtual Reality
In July 2022, the FTC brought an enforcement action to enjoin Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality app maker Within. The FTC’s approach in that complaint could have implications for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of...more
8/16/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Amazon ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
App Developers ,
Big Tech ,
Broadcom ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Microsoft ,
Mobile Apps ,
Popular ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Reality
Although the second quarter did not feature any life sciences enforcement action by the FTC, there was plenty of news in and around the space. The FTC held a detailed “virtual workshop” as part of its pharmaceutical...more
On June 13, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “the Commission”) announced a consent agreement resolving concerns with a private equity acquisition, incorporating novel prior notice and approval requirements...more
6/17/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Consent Order ,
Divestiture ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Notice Requirements ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Veterinarians
..Two shifts in merger control enforcement in the U.S. have emerged that are impacting the technology space: an increase in challenges of vertical transactions and increased scrutiny and enforcement with respect to deals...more
5/3/2022
/ Activision ,
Amazon ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
MGM ,
Microsoft ,
NVIDIA ,
Technology Sector ,
Vertical Mergers
AGENCIES APPEAR POISED TO TARGET TECH, LIFE SCIENCES AND PRIVATE EQUITY TRANSACTIONS -
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chair Lina Khan and the head of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Antitrust Division,...more
On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced a broad executive order (the “Order”) intended to boost what it characterizes as stagnant competition across the U.S. economy. The Order, among other things, encourages the...more
7/15/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Biosimilars ,
Competition ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Joint Statements ,
Licensing Rules ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Online Marketplace ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Surveillance ,
Technology Sector ,
Unfair Competition ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in a recent decision that eliminated the agency’s ability to seek monetary remedies in enforcement actions in federal court. This new ruling has...more