Antitrust

On July 9, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Office of Policy Planning released an Interim Staff Report titled Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies. The Interim Staff Report reflects the FTC’s work since it began its 6(b) study of PBMs in June 2022.  Mintz’s Health and Antitrust teams actively monitor federal and state regulatory and legislative developments in the PBM space, including those from the FTC. In this Special Edition of the PBM Policy and Legislative Update, the Mintz Health team partnered with our Antitrust colleagues to analyze the Interim Staff Report including Commissioner Melissa Holyoak’s dissenting statement.  We also highlight upcoming Congressional testimony by CEOs of the three largest PBMs, as well as media reports of a forthcoming FTC action related to PBM insulin rebate practices.

Read about two significant federal agency actions taken within 240 days of the issuance of President Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

On July 3, 2024, the Federal District Court in the Northern District of Texas in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission granted a preliminary injunction staying the effective date of the FTC’s non-compete rule and enjoining the FTC from enforcing it against the specific plaintiffs who challenged it (Ryan, LLC, the US Chamber of Commerce, and a few other business groups which were previously permitted to intervene in the lawsuit).  The Court declined to enter a nationwide injunction, and, absent additional legal developments or a voluntary nationwide stay by the FTC, the non-compete rule is still set to go into effect on September 4, 2024 for all other covered employers.  In its decision, the Court indicated that it intends to rule on the merits of the case by August 30, 2024, in advance of the rule’s September 4, 2024 effective date. 

Read about a federal rule aimed at creating safeguards for automated valuation models (AVMs) in the real estate industry in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the Treasury Department’s final proposed rule to implement the Biden administration’s 2023 Executive Order on US investments in national security technologies and products in certain countries in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the bill introduced by Senators for AI procurement and use by federal agencies

Read about the FTC and the DOJ’s agreement to divide responsibility over AI oversight in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about three bills concerning AI and elections that were advanced out of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory’s new initiative to assess societal impacts of AI systems in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about a recent Commodity Futures Trading Commission report concerning the risks posed by AI adoption in the derivatives market in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group’s sweeping AI policy agenda calling for $32 billion in R&D funding in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about a number of recently completed actions ordered to take place 180 days after the signing of President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on AI in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about three recently completed actions ordered to take place 180 days after the signing of President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on AI in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the USPTO’s recent guidance on the use of AI tools by practitioners in connection with matters before the agency in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about the Office of Management and Budget’s memorandum on AI use for federal agencies in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI. 

Read about the US Treasury Department’s report on how financial institutions and other industry stakeholders can prepare for and combat AI-age fraud in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about AI-related provisions in President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025 in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about FTC Chair Lina Khan’s remarks on why protecting large firms from certain types of regulation is inappropriate in the AI age and the agency’s current AI-related efforts in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

Read about a DOJ official’s announcement concerning “stiffer sentences” for AI-related white-collar crime in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.