As Donald J. Trump gradually fills out his cabinet, the President-elect’s latest pick could bode well for biopharma business development over the next four years.
Trump on Tuesday nominated Andrew Ferguson to lead the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Ferguson is one of two Senate-confirmed Republican FTC commissioners appointed by President Joe Biden, Reuters notes.
At the same time, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he plans to nominate Mark Meador, a partner at the law firm Kressin Meador Powers, to become an FTC commissioner. Should he be confirmed for the job, Meador will take over the spot currently filled by FTC chair Lina Khan, whose term at the antitrust agency has expired, the news agency said.
Sitting FTC chair Khan has become a “political lightning rod” for challenging big mergers, The New York Times notes. Under Khan’s tenure at the FTC, the agency charted several notable moves that made pharma companies bristle.
Notably, the FTC in 2021 said it would work with the Justice Department, state attorneys general and competition authorities in other countries to scrutinize the market results of major biopharma mergers. While the FTC’s acting chair at the time, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, started that process, Khan continued it during her tenure.
In a September 2023 statement (PDF), FTC commissioners Khan, Slaughter and Alvaro Beyoda laid out the rationale behind the agency's high-profile attempt to block Amgen's $27.8 billion purchase of Horizon. They argued that the deal had the potential to blunt competition in the market for FDA-approved drugs to treat the rare diseases thyroid eye disease and chronic refractory gout, which risked creating a monopoly around Horizon’s drugs Tepezza and Krystexxa, respectively. Amgen ultimately prevailed in that case and closed its deal.
Separately, Khan’s FTC led a wide-ranging crackdown of patents it claimed were improperly listed in the FDA’s Orange Book, which records branded drug patents that serve as references for generic medicine developers.
Plus, the agency under Khan’s stewardship has endorsed the use of a controversial provision known as “march-in” rights, which would ostensibly allow the government to bolster biopharma competition by taking over patents developed with the help of federal funding.
Conversely, in discussions with Trump’s transition team, Ferguson said the FTC should continue to scrutinize the market positions of the biggest tech platforms but pushed for a rollback of some of Khan’s agenda, NYT reported Tuesday.
The Associated Press largely echoed the sentiment that Ferguson bodes well for dealmaking in the next few years, writing that his nomination means the agency will likely adopt a “lighter touch” around antitrust enforcement.
“These changes likely will make the FTC more favorable to business than it has been in recent years, though the extent to which is to be determined,” Anthony DiResta, a consumer protection attorney at Holland & Knight, wrote in a recent analysis cited by AP News.
Ferguson himself wrote on X that he plans to “end Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech” while ensuring that “America is the world’s technological leader and the best place for innovators to bring new ideas to life.”
Overall, the Ferguson’s appointment—and his focus on Big Tech antitrust issues over healthcare—is likely a welcome sign for the biopharma industry, which has faced intense scrutiny over mergers and acquisitions in recent years and saw the overall value of signed deals plummet in 2024.