More deals, higher prices lead to greater antitrust scrutiny for pharma M&A

Kristen Hallam and Kris Elaine Figuracion for S&P Global Market Intelligence cover the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's efforts to revise the way they, along with Canada, the U.K. and Europe, study the impact of pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

The article reports on new efforts from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to add to the standard criteria of product and pipeline that is normally assessed when reviewing pharma's M&A. The FTC hopes to implement the inclusion of pharma companies' transaction's effects on prices and access to medicines for consumers.

Damiano de Felice, Director of Strategy at the Access to Medicine Foundation, comments on the effects that access barriers can have on the pharmaceutical industry:

"When governments see that access barriers are not addressed for important products controlled by certain companies, it is natural to expect that they will consider more aggressive approaches to ensure that the industry continues to earn its social license to operate."

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