The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has picked Henry Liu of the law firm of Covington & Burling to run the agency’s Bureau of Competition, a seat that was vacated earlier this year when Holly Vedova retired.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been exceptionally active in the mergers and acquisitions space for the past 18 months, but Congress might soon amplify these agencies’ ability to suppress these transactions. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who chairs the competition subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a recent hearing that vertical mergers have flown largely off the enforcement radar, a problem that Congress could address by several means, including by providing the FTC with a heftier budget to pursue these cases.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been exceptionally active in the mergers and acquisitions space for the past 18 months, but Congress might soon amplify these agencies’ ability to suppress these transactions. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who chairs the competition subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a recent hearing that vertical mergers have flown largely off the enforcement radar, a problem that Congress could address by several means, including by providing the FTC with a heftier budget to pursue these cases.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have floated a new set of guidelines that would govern their reviews of mergers in a variety of markets, including the drug and device industries. While many of these guidelines are vaguely worded and open to interpretation, one of the more ambiguously worded passages states that a merger may be rejected if it could create “a clog on competition,” a phrase that appears in a Supreme Court decision handed down more than 60 years ago.
The European Commission (EC) fined Illumina Inc. a record €432 million (US$476 million) for closing the acquisition of Grail Inc. before receiving regulatory approval. It is the highest fine ever imposed on a company by the EC for completing a deal without its consent. Grail was fined €1,000. The companies were found to be in breach of EU merger control rules.
The U.S. FTC picked up six allies in its unprecedented effort to stop Amgen Inc.’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc, as the attorneys general for California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Washington and Wisconsin joined the agency in signing onto an amended complaint filed under seal June 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported a settlement with San Francisco-based 1Health.io Inc. for allegations that the consumer gene testing company failed to properly secure customers’ data, an oversight that will cost the company only $75,000 in fines.
The U.S. FTC’s unprecedented antitrust challenge to Amgen Inc.’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc, could be a disruptor to biotech investment if the agency is victorious, some analysts are warning. “With essentially zero commercial overlap [between the two companies], this deal would seem to be a slam dunk under long-established antitrust considerations,” said Christopher Raymond, a senior research analyst with Piper Sandler Research.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final order in connection with the proposed reacquisition of Grail Inc. by Illumina Inc., in an action that might seem to finally conclude a matter that has stretched over several years. However, the FTC acknowledged that Illumina has 60 days to petition the order, which Illumina said it intends to do in conjunction with an effort to overturn a similarly adverse outcome in the EU.
Citing significant implications for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease, as well as the broader public interest that’s at stake, the U.S. FTC filed an amicus brief in Sage Chemical Inc.’s district court challenge of Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s strategies to block generic competition of its injectable Parkinson’s drug, Apokyn (apomorphine).
RSS
