Potential and Nascent Competition in FTC Merger Enforcement in Health Care Markets

Continuing calls for more vigorous enforcement against mergers and acquisitions by digital technology platforms increasingly focus on deals involving potential and nascent competitors. The FTC has been applying future competition theories in the healthcare sector for years, including litigating the government’s first merger challenge on actual potential competition grounds since the mid-80s. It also challenged mergers under Section 2 “nascent competition” theories, a close cousin of an ac