The healthcare sector (incorporating pharma, medical and biotech) has seen M&A valued at US$256.5 billion across 645 deals in 2019. This is a decrease of 9 percent by volume, but an increase of 121 percent by value....more
“Big data” has become one of the hottest subjects for antitrust enforcers around the globe. There is concern that large tech companies are amassing vast amounts of data and will use that data to entrench their dominant...more
Concluding one of the longest merger reviews in history, on September 4, Judge Richard Leon, District Judge for the District of Columbia, issued his final ruling in United States v. CVS Health, approving the proposed...more
Google will pay a “record $170 million fine and make changes to protect children’s privacy on YouTube” as part of a deal it reached this week with the FTC and NY AG’s office, both of whom had accused YouTube of “violating the...more
On June 4 – 5, 2019, Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held an extraordinary and unprecedented evidentiary hearing to decide whether to enter the proposed Final Judgment in U.S. v....more
The District of Columbia District Court has again deferred its decision regarding whether to approve the merger between CVS Health and Aetna, a $69 billion transaction that was first announced back in December 2017. ...more
Pinterest has set a price range of $15 to $17 a share for its IPO roadshow today that “will value the company below its last private-market peg of $12 billion.” The company also plans to attempt “the sunset version of...more
Though the merger of CVS and Aetna received conditional approval from the DOJ’s Antitrust Division back in October, the road to final approval has been rocky as the court’s exasperation with the parties appears to grow....more
What is Quality Anyways?: James Hinton, the CEO of Baylor Scott and White, got a good laugh from the audience when he said that he was proud to be one of the five or six hundred hospitals in the nation’s top 100 hospitals....more
After two hearings over the last week, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District Court for the District of Columbia seems to have put the brakes on the well-publicized merger between health care giants CVS and Aetna. ...more
We’re glad the steak dinner went well, but we’re also still anxiously awaiting actual details about what exactly is covered by the pause in the US/China trade war....more
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 26, CVS Health Corporation announced that it has received all of the regulatory approvals necessary to complete its acquisition of Aetna and that the...more
During a public hearing in New York City on Thursday, October 18, 2018, New York State regulators, including Superintendent Maria Vullo of the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”), threatened to block CVS...more
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced on October 10, 2018, that it was conditionally approving the CVS/Aetna merger, a $69 billion transaction that combines the nation’s largest retail pharmacy...more
Markets took a beating yesterday, with investors apparently put off by tech stocks, tensions with China, a recent jump in interest rates and government bond yields, and a tightening Fed monetary policy....more
On Monday, September 17, 2018, the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) cleared Cigna’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts, the country’s largest pharmacy benefit manager....more
The FBI and OCC have each launched inquiries into pricing practices within American Express’s forex unit with an aim to determine “whether the foreign-exchange international payments department misrepresented pricing to...more
In December of 2017, CVS Health and Aetna announced their intention to merge. The transaction, if approved by regulators, would combine the country’s second largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), Caremark – a CVS subsidiary...more
On July 9, 2018, President Trump announced his intention to nominate D.C. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court....more
It has been widely reported that healthcare mergers and acquisitions are off to a strong start this year after ending a record-breaking year in 2017. In fact, the healthcare press this year has been replete with articles...more
Last Tuesday, February 27, 2018, representatives of CVS Health and Aetna went before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law (“Subcommittee”) to argue in favor of CVS...more
On February 27, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held a hearing to consider the implications of the proposed CVS/Aetna merger. The transaction, valued at approximately $69...more
CONGRESS RECONVENES WITH FOCUS ON OPIOID LEGISLATION - Congress reconvenes today after a weeklong recess, and a House subcommittee is scheduled to begin a series of hearings focusing on bipartisan efforts to combat the opioid...more
Congress returns from its President’s Day recess. The House and Senate convene today at noon and 3 p.m., respectively. A fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the FY 2018 omnibus spending...more
CVS just announced they are buying Aetna and a sign of further consolidation in the health care industry. We see consolidation in the retirement plan business so it’s not shocking to see a leading insurance broker decided to...more