Over the past few weeks, several Trump Administration antitrust enforcers at both the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ Antitrust”) have written or spoken about the...more
5/7/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
America First Trade Policy ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Trump Administration
Following President Trump’s Executive Order on Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers, the FTC—led by Chairman Andrew Ferguson—launched a public inquiry this week into “how federal regulations can harm competition in...more
In our annual report, we examine health care enforcement trends, predict how health care enforcement may evolve, and offer practical guidance about what these trends and predictions mean for health care providers, payors, and...more
On January 14, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Office of Policy Planning released a second Interim Staff Report titled Specialty Generic Drugs: A Growing Profit Center for Vertically Integrated Pharmacy Benefit...more
1/24/2025
/ Competition ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Drug Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Health Insurance ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reimbursements
When considering the health care enforcement landscape in 2024 and where it might be headed in 2025, we would be remiss if we did not address the enforcement activities of state and federal agencies beyond those typically...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday increased jurisdictional thresholds for (1) notifications under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act), (2) the HSR Act filing fee schedule,...more
1/15/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On the heels of President-Elect Trump’s announcement of the appointment of Mark Meador to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and designation of current Republican Commissioner Andrew Ferguson as the agency’s chair, the FTC...more
As January 20, 2025, approaches, antitrust practitioners and the business communities are searching for clues whether the incoming Trump Administration and its antitrust officials will continue the Biden Administration’s...more
11/20/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Amicus Briefs ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Class Action ,
Conspiracies ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Healthcare ,
Information Sharing ,
Landlords ,
Risk Assessment ,
Sensitive Personal Information ,
Sherman Act ,
Software
The new HSR form, instructions, and implementing rules were announced yesterday and are set to take effect 90 days from publication in the Federal Register.
In June 2023 the FTC issued a NPRM, drafted alongside the DOJ,...more
On September 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) filed a monopolization suit against Visa, Inc. (“Visa”), alleging that Visa has a monopoly in general purpose debit network services and general...more
10/1/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Banks ,
Credit Cards ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Transactions ,
Monopolization ,
Ohio v American Express ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Sherman Act ,
Visas
On Monday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 277-page opinion finding Google liable for monopolizing the general search services and general search text ads markets....more
Exactly two weeks after issuing an interim staff report on Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers (PBMs) pursuant to its Section 6(b) authority to study markets, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated another 6(b) study...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Office of Policy Planning released an Interim Staff Report titled Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies (the Interim...more
Last week, a federal judge in North Carolina declined to preliminarily enjoin Novant Health, Inc.’s (“Novant”) acquisition of two hospitals from Community Health Systems, Inc. (“CHS”). The FTC filed suit in federal court and...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced yesterday increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”), as amended. The FTC...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published the long-awaited final 2023 Merger Guidelines. The 2023 Merger Guidelines are informed...more
12/29/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Request For Information ,
The Clayton Act ,
Transparency ,
Vertical Mergers
Since the beginning of Chair Khan’s tenure at the Federal Trade Commission (and in line with President Biden’s aim to curb rising health care costs), the current FTC has committed to bring enforcement actions against health...more
For years, the antitrust enforcement agencies have indicated their antipathy toward resolving competition issues in proposed mergers by entering into consent decrees that prohibit certain conduct, rather than stopping the...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”), and the new proposed merger guidelines have all called out private equity transactions for particular scrutiny. The FTC just...more
8/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Consent Order ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestment ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Section 8 ,
Settlement ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition
On July 19, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published Draft Merger Guidelines. The Draft Merger Guidelines, if adopted, would replace both the...more
On Monday, the FTC lost its bid to preliminarily enjoin Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the maker of the popular video game, “Call of Duty.” Based on a vertical foreclosure theory, this case marks the fourth loss for...more
The Federal Trade Commission, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, recently released a summary of the Agencies’ June 2022 joint workshop titled “The Future of Pharmaceuticals: Examining the...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced Monday that it had reversed its in-house Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) Initial Decision dismissing a complaint brought by FTC staff against Illumina, Inc.’s acquisition of...more
4/6/2023
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Divestment ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Life Sciences ,
Merger Controls ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Section 7 ,
The Clayton Act ,
Vertical Mergers
On March 16, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ Antitrust Division”) announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a former health care staffing executive of fixing wages for nurses....more
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday announced a Request for Information regarding “franchise agreements and franchisor business practices, including how franchisors may exert control over franchisees and their workers.”...more