The Federal Trade Commission recently initiated legal action in order to block IQVIA's acquisition of Propel Media, with the goal of preventing a significant increase in market concentration within the healthcare programmatic advertising industry. The merger is feared to have negative consequences for competition, leading to increased prices for consumers and negatively impacting patients nationwide, according to a July 17 news release.

“Protecting competition in the emerging health care programmatic advertising market plays a critical role in lowering health care costs, including the cost of prescription drugs,” FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova said in the release.

The FTC alleges this acquisition would give IQVIA a dominant position in programmatic advertising for health care products, particularly prescription drugs, targeted at doctors and other health care professionals, the release reported. The complaint says the merger would reduce competition, potentially driving up prices for health care products and reducing innovation in the industry. 

IQVIA's control over critical health care data also raises concerns it could use this advantage to disadvantage competitors and restrict the use of its data by advertisers, further limiting competition, according to the release.

The FTC emphasizes the importance of competition in protecting patients from higher health care prices and fostering innovation in the industry. As IQVIA controls leading provider identity and prescribing behavior data, its datasets are highly sought after in health care demand-side platforms for programmatic advertising, the release reported. 

The merger with PMI would grant IQVIA the ability and incentive to leverage its data control to disadvantage competitors and potentially raise prices for data services, the release said. To prevent the acquisition from moving forward, the FTC authorized its staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court.

The FTC's decision to issue an administrative complaint and seek legal measures to halt the acquisition was unanimous among the Commission members, according to the release. The FTC's Mergers I Division of the Bureau of Competition handled the matter. For more information about how competition benefits consumers or to file an antitrust complaint, the public can visit the FTC's website and follow its social media channels for the latest updates.