The director of the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) bureau of economics, Joseph Farrell, will step down at the end of the month to return to academia, breaking up a trio of FTC bureau directors who had been in place since the beginning of the Obama administration.

A senior official at the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division says the country’s antitrust agencies are committed to policing potential anti-competitive behaviour on both sides of the “inextricably linked” payer-provider health-care divide. Ron Knox in Arlington

Enforcers from the US antitrust agencies say their oversight of newly-created accountable care organisations among health-care providers is progressing – but applications for the voluntary review process have been slim. Ron Knox in Arlington

The chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said today that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in the Phoebe Putney/Palmyra merger case was “disturbingly, jarringly wrong,” and that he expects the Supreme Court to hear the commission’s appeal. Ron Knox in Arlington

The US Federal Trade Commission has added litigator Beth Wilkinson as outside counsel to its antitrust investigation of online search leader Google, prompting speculation that the commission is preparing to sue the company if the two sides fail to reach a deal to quash the FTC's concerns.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is set to review the proposed €4.3 billion merger between Watson Pharmaceuticals and Actavis - a deal that would create the world’s third-largest generic drug maker.

An appeals court has again shot down a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit attempting to brand pay-for-delay pharmaceutical settlement deals anti-competitive – casting more doubt on the chances of its long-running bid to end the deals succeeding in the courtroom.

Settling behavioural cases is an important part of freeing up agency resources, but authorities must be careful deterrence doesn't slip in the process, according to a panel at the 11th annual International Competition Network conference yesterday. Clare Bolton in Rio de Janeiro.

Cecil Saehoon Chung, a former US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) official, has joined Yulchon as head of the firm’s international antitrust team.

Illinois hospital groups OSF Healthcare System and Rockford Health System have cancelled their proposed tie-up in the face of opposition from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has obtained a preliminary injunction to stop the merger between Illinois hospital groups OSF Healthcare System and Rockford Health System.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered ProMedica Health System to divest St Luke’s Hospital, ruling that the August 2010 acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in Ohio’s health-care sector.

The US Senate has unanimously confirmed former Wilkinson Barker Knauer partner Maureen Ohlhausen as a commissioner at the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), returning Ohlhausen to the agency at which she worked for more than a decade. Ron Knox at the ABA Spring Meeting in Washington, DC.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has partially cleared the merger of powder paint companies Graco and Illinois Tool Works (ITW), allowing Graco to move ahead with the deal provided it sets aside a portion of the business until the FTC completes its review.

Leonard L Gordon, regional director at the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has joined Venable in New York as partner.