Pfizer’s acquisition of Arena without FTC intervention and Hikma’s acquisition of Custopharm with one product divestiture shows the commission is bound by anticompetitive facts of a deal. A more controversial merger may not get through, former FTC attorney says.

Gaining approval for Fintepla in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, on top of an earlier green light in Dravet, puts the Belgian group in a strong position to compete with Jazz’s Epidiolex.

US FDA’s approval of the opioid over resounding opposition of an advisory committee has haunted the agency, and it has imperiled both of Robert Califf’s nominations to be commissioner. The latest company to own Zohydro stopped selling it and FDA withdrew approval of its NDA.

When almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong at a company, the proposition of it turning acquirer may meet with some resistance from its proposed targets and their investors.