FTC fires first shot in pharma war

The FTC’s attempt to block Amgen’s acquisition of Horizon is a shot across the bow of the biopharmaceutical industry, a signal that the agency intends to try to make good on its vows to use untested legal theories to limit drug company M&A.

The case is fundamentally different from the FTC’s ongoing attempt to force Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) to unwind its acquisition of cancer screening company Grail Inc., which centers on the commission’s contention that the next-generation sequencing company could provide Grail preferential access to its massive installed base of next-generation sequencers...