Antitrust And Competition Life Sciences Year In Review 2025

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.

Observations From the 2026 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference With an Antitrust Lens

2025 was one of the most active years for life sciences M&A activity in recent memory — and certainly since 2019. After a slow start, we saw numerous multi-billion-dollar transactions in the second half of the year, many involving later-stage assets and running the gamut of therapeutic areas: