On 27 February 2018, NERA President Dr. Lawrence Wu served on an expert panel where he testified about the proposed merger of CVS Health and Aetna before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. In his testimony, Dr. Wu offered three observations for the committee's consideration:
- Because the merger is a vertical merger rather than horizontal merger, it is less likely to raise competitive concerns
- The expansion CVS MinuteClinics could increase access to basic, primary healthcare
- The historical importance of mergers and acquisitions to facilitate innovation in the healthcare market
Dr. Wu concluded that if the Antitrust Division finds that the proposed transaction has a low risk of competitive harm, we should let the transaction go through, see what innovation flows from the merger, and allow the market to determine its success.
Click here to watch a video of the hearing.
