The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken a more assertive stance regarding enforcement of several considerations, most conspicuously about mergers and acquisitions. However, the agency’s push for less cumbersome processes has now been applied to a host of considerations pertinent to the life sciences, including bias found in artificial intelligence algorithms, abuse of drug patents, and repairs for medical equipment, a signal that more frequent and more rapid FTC enforcement is on the near horizon.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hardly alone in its antipathy toward Illumina Inc.'s acquisition of Grail Inc., and FTC attorney Susan Musser said Aug. 24 that Illumina’s dominance of the market for next-generation sequencing (NGS) is perhaps the key aspect of the FTC’s case. Musser invoked the wide number of companies that jumped into the fray to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustration of the need to maintain competition in the multicancer testing space.

Illumina Inc.’s acquisition of cancer diagnostic specialist Grail Inc. is on go in a $7.1 billion transaction that is structured so that it can be unwound with limited impact on Illumina. However, a number of regulatory entities are closely scrutinizing the deal for a potential regulatory challenge, a fact of life that shaved nearly 10% off the value of the company’s shares in early Aug. 19 trading, and which could ultimately scuttle the transaction altogether.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made no secret of its intent to tighten its oversight of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, an emphasis that has already been felt in the med-tech space. Soliton Inc., of Houston, said in its latest 8-K filing that the FTC wants to see more information about plans for the company to be acquired by Allergan Aesthetics plc, a demand that at the very least will delay – and potentially derail altogether – the acquisition.

Citing a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to seek restitution or disgorgement, the FTC, on July 30, withdrew its remaining count against Abbvie Inc. involving sham litigation intended to delay generic competition to its blockbuster testosterone replacement drug, Androgel.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had previously reported it would more tightly scrutinize mergers and acquisitions with an eye toward the impact on competition, and voted July 21 to expand its authority to review these activities. The agency also voted to eliminate restrictions by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on servicing of their devices, thus putting both drug and device makers on alert that much more rigorous FTC enforcement has arrived.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported a series of moves recently that promise more scrutiny of companies in the life sciences industry, such as the more routine use of subpoenas and other compulsory processes during investigations. However, the FTC has also announced a broader revamp of the agency’s rulemaking authorities that some critics argue would allow the commission to promulgate rules that are in defiance of standing FTC practice.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking to block Illumina Inc.’s $7.1 billion purchase of Grail Inc., claiming the deal will “diminish innovation in the U.S. market” for multicancer early detection (MCED) tests, which could be used to flag dozens of tumor types when they are still treatable. Illumina has vowed to “pursue all legal options” to complete its acquisition of Grail, arguing that it does not compete with Grail and is committed to providing “unfettered access” to its NGS technology.