Litigation Attorneys Share Predictions For Antitrust Enforcement of Life Sciences Under Trump Administration

Litigation & enforcement partner Jacqueline Grise and associate Shane Bryan authored an article for Law360 discussing how life sciences companies and transaction counsel are preparing for the antitrust environment in 2025 with a new administration. Their predictions for antitrust mergers & acquisitions enforcement in life sciences include:

• Return to Previous Trump Antitrust Priorities: Reversion to Trump 1.0 antitrust policies with potentially more progressive enforcement and greater predictability.
• Policy Changes and Burden Reduction: Elimination of excessive burdens on merging parties and reduced skepticism toward remedies, likely acceptance of structural remedies.
• Merger Guidelines: Possible withdrawal of new merger guidelines and return to or revision of the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines.
• Leadership and Enforcement Focus: Appointment of Slater and Ferguson indicating a return to Trump’s previous priorities, continued aggressive enforcement on pharmaceutical mergers, and focus on vertical mergers with potential return to 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines.
• Nascent Competition and Killer Acquisitions: Continued scrutiny on nascent competition and killer acquisitions with a focus on early phase pipeline products and medical devices.
• Transparency and Consistency: Increased transparency and consistency in policy application, providing greater predictability on deal timing and certainty.

The full contributed article with more information on what to expect in 2025 can be found here, and additional commentary on this subject from Jackie and Shane can be found here.