Antitrust Trends in Technology, Life Sciences, and Healthcare

As 2025 progressed, competition law enforcement became increasingly policy-driven, influenced by domestic political agendas and transatlantic tensions with direct consequences for dealmaking, compliance, and regulatory risk.

After four years of unpredictably aggressive—and often controversial—merger review, the expectations were that under the new leadership, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s review of life sciences transactions would return to well-established principles of antitrust analysis. Those expectations have been met so far. With the notable exception of the FTC’s involvement in the bidding war between Pfizer and Novo for Metsera, the agency’s activity in life sciences has been rigorous but consistent with decades of antitrust enforcement precedent.

Federal and state antitrust regulators continued their ongoing focus on healthcare issues in 2025.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) (together, the Agencies) continued to focus on interlocking directorates (directors serving simultaneously on the boards of competing corporations) and the usage of noncompete agreements in the healthcare space, signaling through public statements and private letters that these will be key policy issues for the Agencies moving forward.

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