Week in Review

IN THE NEWS

• A New York jury found that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster violated federal and state antitrust laws by monopolizing the ticketing market. The U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of state attorneys general alleged that the company had engaged in unlawful conduct across the live entertainment industry, causing increased ticket pricing, limiting the power of performers, and preventing rivals from expanding. Although the jury found the company overcharged by $1.72 per ticket at “major concert venues” in plaintiff states, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will determine other remedies. The federal government had previously made a deal with the company weeks after Gail Slater, the Justice Department’s top antitrust official, left the agency.
• The Maine legislature passed a bill that would ban all large data centers for 18 months to address economic and environmental concerns. The bill, which is the first statewide ban on large data centers in the nation, will be sent to the governor’s desk for approval. Similar legislation is being considered in at least 12 states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-.N.Y.) have also introduced federal legislation that would temporarily ban large data centers until they can be deemed safe.
• The U.S. House of Representatives passed the ALERT Act, a bipartisan legislative package to improve aviation safety, by a vote of 396 to 10. The ALERT Act would require pilots to employ new collision-prevention technology when flying in busy airspace, changes to helicopter routes surrounding major airports, and improved training for air traffic controllers. This bill followed a deadly collision over Washington D.C. last year between an Army helicopter and a commercial plane that killed 67 people. In support of the bill, U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) stated that it presents a “comprehensive response to the full scope of this accident.”
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the PFAS OUTreach (PFAS OUT) initiative to connect drinking water systems facing per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) challenges with location-specific resources, funding, and technical assistance. The PFAS OUT initiative will particularly target rural and disadvantaged water systems, which often have fewer resources to tackle PFAS contamination. EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer emphasized that this initiative will “help protect public health.” This announcement follows EPA’s recent move to designate PFAS as a contaminant group under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
• A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed a loophole in the Montreal Protocol could delay the full recovery of the ozone layer by several years. Researchers found that although global production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has largely been phased out, exemptions for “essential uses” and feedstock production have allowed continued emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals. The study estimated that unchecked loopholes return the Antarctic ozone hole to pre-1980 levels. Supporters of tighter controls praised the findings as a call for immediate international action to close the exemptions, while critics warned that overly restrictive rules could disrupt essential industrial processes. The researchers urged parties to the Montreal Protocol to tighten definitions for essential uses and improve monitoring of feedstock emissions to accelerate ozone recovery.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance on safety standards for human gene therapy products involving genome editing technology. This guidance would apply both to products where gene editing is conducted in cells that are inside or outside the body. Specifically, the draft guidance would provide recommendations for how sponsors seeking approval of these products can use next-generation sequencing-based methods to address safety risks from off-target editing and losing genome integrity across multiple phases of product development, such as sample selection and report. The draft guidance is open for public comment until July 14, 2026.
• FDA announced that it will convene an expert advisory panel to evaluate whether certain peptides should be removed from the restricted “Category 2” list that currently limits compounding pharmacies from producing them. The review comes amid growing demand for peptides used in weight management, anti-aging, and regenerative medicine, and follows pressure from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to expand patient access while maintaining safety standards. The panel will assess evidence on safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality for peptides such as BPC-157 and others currently restricted due to concerns over unapproved uses and quality control. Supporters praised the move for potentially increasing affordable access to innovative treatments, while critics warned that loosening restrictions without robust data could expose patients to safety risks and undermine FDA oversight of compounded drugs.
• The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) and Verdant Research released a white paper urging greater transparency and stricter oversight of FDA’s accelerated approval pathway for prescription drugs. The report criticized the agency for approving drugs based on surrogate endpoints without sufficient post-approval confirmatory trials, citing cases where accelerated approvals were later withdrawn or failed to show clinical benefit. ICER recommended mandatory timelines for confirmatory studies, clearer public disclosure of surrogate endpoint data, and earlier revocation processes when benefits are not confirmed. Supporters praised the proposals for protecting patients and improving value in drug pricing, while critics warned that overly rigid requirements could slow access to treatments for serious or rare diseases. FDA has not yet responded to the recommendations.

WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK

• In a recent Brookings Institution report, Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, a professor at the UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, examined the negative effects of the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement policy on schoolchildren. Sattin-Bajaj noted that since President Trump has been in office, he has rescinded guidance that restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from detaining people near “protected areas” such as schools, made it easier for ICE agents to enter homes, and lowered hiring standards. Sattin-Bajaj found that these standards may affect schoolchildren’s educational engagement, mental and physical health, and overall academic performance.
• In an article published in the Journal of Peptide Science, Yomnah Y. Elsayed, a Master of Pharmacy PhD student at the University of Bonn, Toni Kuhl, a PhD Postdoc at the University of Bonn, and Diana Imhof, a professor at the University of Bonn examined the global regulatory landscape for peptide-based therapeutics. Elsayed, Kuhl, and Imhof argued that fragmented oversight across jurisdictions creates barriers to innovation and patient access while increasing risks of substandard or counterfeit products. They highlighted the need for harmonized guidelines on manufacturing, stability testing, and post-market surveillance, particularly for novel peptides used in oncology, metabolic disorders, and regenerative medicine. Elsayed, Kuhl, and Imhof recommended greater international collaboration through bodies like the International Council for Harmonisation and clearer risk-based classification systems. They concluded that modernizing peptide regulation is essential to balance safety, innovation, and timely access in an expanding therapeutic field.
• A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated the submission of annual financial data by commercial service airports to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Certification Activity Tracking System (CATS). GAO acknowledged that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has worked to improve the quality of CATS data in recent years by, for example, carrying out annual compliance reviews. GAO found, however, that the FAA still lacked adequate procedures to ensure the accuracy and quality of CATS data, and has not communicated the limitations of its data to consumers. Furthermore, GAO explained that the FAA had not delineated roles and responsibilities between headquarters and regional staff for managing CATS data. GAO recommended that the FAA administrator implement stronger data quality controls, clarify who oversees compliance, and publish information on the limitations of CATS data.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

• In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Kevin Frazier, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, argued that the Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution may be understood to be an “Antitrust Guarantee”—that big corporations undermine a republican form of government, triggering intervention. Frazier explained that under an Antitrust Guarantee, the federal government must “insist” that states prevent corporations from infringing the “republican liberty of others.” Frazier suggested one possible intervention would be to have states impose minimum charter requirements for all corporations doing business across state lines. Frazier concluded that an Antitrust Guarantee would protect states, such as Delaware, where corporations are concentrated, from the negative consequences of laws that contradict republican ideals.