Articles and Blogs

On July 11, 2019, the Antitrust Division of the DOJ (“Division”) announced a new initiative aimed at encouraging robust corporate antitrust compliance programs. The Division’s initiative incentivizes compliance programs by establishing that firms charged criminally for antitrust violations will be given credit in charging and sentencing recommendations if they have effective corporate antitrust compliance... READ MORE

On September 17, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) approved the $52 billion vertical merger between health insurer Cigna Corp. (“Cigna”) and pharmacy benefit manager (“PBM”) Express Scripts. The Cigna-Express Scripts merger is just one in a string of recent health insurer/PBM acquisitions. For more on these transactions, click here. As the largest unaffiliated... READ MORE

Consistent with earlier policy announcements, on April 3, 2018, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it reached a settlement with Knorr-Bremse AG and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (“Wabtec”), two large rail equipment suppliers. The settlement resolves a lawsuit alleging the companies had maintained unlawful agreements not to... READ MORE

Last week, Cigna Corporation, the fifth largest health insurer in the country, and Express Scripts, the nation’s largest stand-alone pharmacy benefit manager (“PBM”), issued a statement outlining Cigna’s plans to acquire the PBM giant for $67 billion. This deal is just the latest example of a health insurer and PBM joining forces, coming just... READ MORE

As has been widely reported, on July 21, 2016, the Antitrust Division of the DOJ filed two separate complaints to block both Anthem’s acquisition of Cigna and Aetna’s acquisition of Humana, alleging both acquisitions violate the federal antitrust laws. In both cases, the parties have decided to fight the DOJ’s challenge. Originally, both cases were... READ MORE

In late 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), riding a wave of victories, challenged three separate hospital mergers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Huntington, West Virginia; and Chicago, Illinois (for more information on these challenges, see our previous coverage here). Six months later, the FTC’s winning streak has effectively come to an end after suffering at... READ MORE

In the first big win in more than 10 years for hospitals over the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in a litigated hospital merger challenge, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled against the FTC, denying their request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the merger between... READ MORE