Faegre Drinker Wins Trial for Surmodics in High-Profile Merger Challenge Against FTC

On November 10, 2025, a cross-office team of Faegre Drinker antitrust lawyers won a decisive victory on behalf of our client, Surmodics, following a hotly contested trial against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Chicago federal court.

Philadelphia partner Joanne Lewers led Faegre Drinker’s representation of Surmodics since the beginning of the FTC’s merger review process. After the FTC filed its lawsuit in March 2025, Paul Saint-Antoine joined the team as lead trial counsel, along with Josh Mahoney. Anna Sallstrom, Jon Todt, and Matt Lechner were also key contributors during the merger review phase and later at trial.

Following a lengthy investigation, the FTC sued to block the $627 million acquisition of Surmodics, the nation’s leading medical device coatings supplier, by GTCR, a private equity firm. The parties litigated through a hard-fought, accelerated discovery period and pretrial proceedings, culminating in an eight-day bench trial before Judge Jeffrey Cummings of the Northern District of Illinois. The trial took place over three weeks in August and early September 2025 and was the first antitrust merger challenge brought by the FTC during President Trump’s second administration. 

In his oral decision, Judge Cummings denied the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the merger over the FTC’s concerns that the merger would harm competition in a market for outsourced hydrophilic coatings. Medical device coatings, including hydrophilic coatings, provide lubricity to catheters and other types of implantable medical devices; these types of coatings are commonly used in neurovascular and cardiovascular surgeries. 

Judge Cummings determined that Surmodics and GTCR had successfully rebutted the FTC’s allegations that the merger raised competitive concerns in an already concentrated market, and denied the FTC’s request to block the transaction while the FTC further prosecuted the proposed deal in its administrative proceeding. After Judge Cummings’ ruling, the FTC declined to seek an injunction pending appeal, allowing the parties to close the acquisition.

Additional members of the Faegre Drinker team who provided critical assistance during the proceedings included associates Andrew Scarafile, Jose Lopez, Kerry Gibbons and Alecks Lewis, along with paralegals Susan Haag and Shelley Meyer.

Faegre Drinker corporate partners Nicole Leimer, Mike Stanchfield, and Brandon Mason, and associates Kareem Tawfic, Jenn Lucas, and Sheremy Anderson, represented Surmodics as deal counsel in the transaction and provided valuable support to Faegre Drinker’s trial team throughout the litigation.

The case received significant media attention in various legal and business publications, and the team was recognized by The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” column.

See Law360’s coverage of the case and decision for more details.