Clients call on us in antitrust matters because of our track record. They know that we are immersed in their businesses and that we have the know-how to deliver practical, real-world solutions to the complex antitrust issues they face.
Venable's antitrust attorneys aggressively defend our healthcare clients before federal and state antitrust law enforcers, including the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorneys general, in investigations covering all aspects of antitrust. In addition to complex government investigations, we vigorously represent our clients in antitrust litigation. Comprehensive counseling based on a deep knowledge of our healthcare clients’ businesses is also key to ensuring that our clients compete aggressively within the bounds of the antitrust laws.
Our attorneys have served in the DOJ, FTC, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and state attorney general offices. Positions have included assistant U.S. attorneys, DOJ antitrust appellate attorney, antitrust attorney advisor to the FTC chairman, director of the FTC’s Northeast Regional Office, and deputy attorney general of Maryland and chief of litigation.
Our antitrust healthcare clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, industry and professional associations, and company executives, including hospital systems, physician practices, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare consultants. We are also antitrust counsel for one of the largest and most complex shared Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) programs in the pharmaceutical industry.
Government Antitrust Investigations
Venable's experienced antitrust team has successfully defended dozens of antitrust investigations before federal and state antitrust law enforcers, involving mergers, allegations of price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation, and other anti-competitive conduct. A central focus of our healthcare government investigations is defending government challenges to our clients’ pharmaceutical patent litigation settlements. On this front, we have represented clients in some of the FTC’s leading cases. We have persuaded the FTC to close investigations against our clients.
Venable attorneys also have an exceptional reputation for advocating both for and against mergers pending before antitrust authorities. Our attorneys have worked with multiple hospital systems to develop merger strategies and obtain government clearance for proposed transactions, opposed mergers on behalf of our clients, and routinely counsel clients, including hospitals, physician health organizations, and other associations, on a wide variety of healthcare-related antitrust issues where federal or state antitrust enforcement is possible.
Antitrust Litigation
Our team has been deeply involved in all stages of brand/generic patent litigation settlement antitrust cases, before both state and federal enforcers and federal court. A Venable team scored a historic, highly visible antitrust litigation victory in December 2014 in a complex seven-week trial in Federal District Court in Boston for its client, Ranbaxy, a leading multinational generic pharmaceutical company. In Re: Nexium (Esomeprazole Magnesium) Antitrust Litigation is the first "reverse payment" case to be tried since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2013 Actavis decision, holding that patent litigation settlements are subject to the rule of reason test under federal antitrust law.
We also litigate on behalf of clients in government and private challenges involving allegations of price fixing, market allocation schemes, predatory practices, exclusionary conduct, dealer terminations, and other antitrust allegations in healthcare and other industries.
Commercial/Business Advice
Venable excels at identifying, structuring, and managing the antitrust risks associated with mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, joint marketing, and buying groups, including identifying key strategies to ensure transactions pass DOJ and FTC antitrust scrutiny. We routinely work with our clients to shepherd their mergers through agency investigative processes, and to proactively resolve competitive concerns. We have orchestrated asset divestitures, working with court-appointed monitors to ensure compliance with complex consent orders.
We also counsel clients on distribution practices and interactions with competitors that may raise antitrust risks. We routinely advise on pharmaceutical patent litigation settlements, exclusive dealing provisions, licensing agreements, and distribution issues such as resale price maintenance and Robinson-Patman issues. Our attorneys frequently design and implement internal antitrust audits.
Practice Focus
- Antitrust agency advocacy
- Antitrust audits and compliance programs
- Antitrust litigation
- Civil and criminal investigations
- Distribution counseling
- Hart-Scott-Rodino and foreign merger filing obligations
- Internal investigations
- Joint buying groups
- Joint ventures
- Licensing agreements
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Standard-setting activities
- Unfair competition
Representation in Cases of
- Dealer terminations
- Exclusionary conduct
- Market allocations
- Monopolization
- Predatory practices
- Price fixing
Industry Focus
- Chemical
- Coal
- Construction
- Consumer products
- Defense industry
- Food and agriculture
- Healthcare
- Hospitality
- Industrial products
- Media and entertainment
- Metals
- Oil and gas
- Oilfield products and services
- Pharmaceuticals
- Publishing
- Software
- Supermarkets
- Telecommunications
- Transportation