Pharmaceuticals deals are being reviewed much more often than other mergers at the Federal Trade Commission, according to an analysis of data from the FTC and Bloomberg BNA’s Deal Analytics.
Drug company acquisitions -- vilified as a key driver of price increases that hurt consumers -- were scrutinized twice as frequently as other mergers in 2013 and about four times more in 2014. Preliminary data show that they were reviewed at roughly three times the rate of other mergers in 2015.
