Commissioner Chopra comes out swinging. The FTC has pursued "a pro-merger policy" on pharma. The agency has chosen to "devote more resources to investigate small-time scams than to pharmaceutical megamergers."
https://twitter.com/chopraftc/status/1392159808413962242
"Commissioners have deprived our merger investigations of staff that understand the on-the-ground realities of how the capital markets incentivize anticompetitive mergers and conduct in the industry."
He recommends the FTC commissioners hold meetings before any proposed remedy is negotiated by staff and require the Bureau of Competition obtain a commission vote before closing or granting an ET to a large deal.
In a footnote, he says that staff in 2018 gave "unconditional clearance to Takeda’s $62 billion takeover of Shire without seeking a Commission vote"
He recommends expanding the staff in the FTC's Bureau of Economics to include financial analysts (most staff in BE are economists who specialize in industrial organization)
He also says the FTC should publish a detailed analysis on any settlements, disclose the data they rely on to justify a settlement and provide more information on any divestitures. (As someone who often has to figure this stuff out, I wholeheartedly back this one)
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