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A Vial Decision

We have heard of current cases in the drug industry in which the Federal Trade Commission is trying to predict the regulatory future. If the FTC is using its predictive powers as the basis for anti-trust decisions going forward, as appears at least in part to have been the case when it announced its intention to block the proposed merger between cervical cancer screening companies Cytyc and Digene, we find the reasoning problematic, and philosophically troubling.

We ascribe no malevolent or overtly political motive to the Federal Trade Commission's June 24 announcement that it would try to block Cytyc Corp. 's acquisition of Digene Corp. [See Deal] Nor is the decision impossible to understand given Digene's current position as the only maker of a molecular diagnostic test for human papilloma virus, the cause of cervical cancer, and Cytyc's dominance in liquid-based Pap testing (the specimen vial). Nonetheless, we find the stated FTC rationale against the deal, which caused these two innovators to walk away from it, philosophically troubling.

A merger with Cytyc would have freed Digene of the need to expend more resources on sales and marketing at...

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