What happened
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that Alcon, Inc. and Alcon Research, LLC abandoned efforts to buy LENSAR, Inc. after agency staff raised concerns over competition in cataract-surgery laser systems.
The agency framed the abandoned transaction as a health care merger-enforcement win, saying the deal threatened to raise prices and reduce innovation for cataract laser eye surgery systems used by surgeons and patients. The FTC's statement came from Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera in response to the companies' reported decision to drop the transaction.
According to the FTC, the Bureau's American Competition Enforcement Division identified substantial competitive concerns because the acquisition would have combined the two most significant players in laser systems used in femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery, known as FLACS.
The agency said Alcon and Lensar were locked in a price war that had benefited doctors offering FLACS-assisted cataract procedures and their patients. It also said rivalry between the companies had spurred innovation in the FLACS market.
Guarnera said the investigation produced evidence of substantial consumer harm and warned that "Competitors simply cannot attempt to buy out rivals to get out from the heat of pricing and innovation competition."
The FTC also credited its Bureau of Economics and the Florida Attorney General's Office for work on the investigation, saying the Bureau of Competition and state partners would remain vigilant against deals the agency views as harmful to Americans.