Federal Judge Relies on Founding Partner Nathan Wilson in Pausing Edwards Lifesciences and Jenavalve Technologies Merger

On January 9, 2026, following a six-day hearing, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of the District of Columbia ruled in favor of Econic Partners’ client, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), granting the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction to pause the proposed merger of Edwards Lifesciences and Jenavalve Technologies. Following the Court’s decision, the parties abandoned the merger.

The parties are the only firms with transcatheter valve replacement devices (TAVR) approved for use in clinical trials to treat Americans suffering from aortic regurgitation (AR). In his decision, Judge Contreras ruled that “because the Proposed Transaction would eliminate the vigorous competition in which Edwards and JenaValve currently engage, there is a reasonable probability that it violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act.”

Dr. Nathan E. Wilson, one of Econic’s founding partners, appeared during the hearing on behalf of the FTC and testified that the proposed merger would substantially lessen competition in the market for TAVR-AR devices.

Judge Contreras relied on Dr. Wilson in reaching his decision, citing his reports and testimony dozens of times. For example, regarding the key question of how the transaction would impact innovation, the opinion notes that “the Court agrees with the FTC’s expert, Dr. Wilson, that characteristics specific to the Proposed Transaction here would decrease Edwards’s incentives to innovate… While the Court does not doubt Edwards’s bona fides, the central question here is not whether Edwards would have strong incentives to develop SOJOURN if JenaValve were out of the picture, but rather, whether Edwards would be meaningfully incentivized to develop both SOJOURN and Trilogy if it owns the two devices. Economic theory predicts that this would not be the case. As the FTC’s economic expert, Dr. Wilson, explained, ‘if two firms have products that will contest with each other for sales,’ a merger would reduce the combined firm’s ‘incentive to incur costs to develop [both] products.’”

Dr. Wilson was supported by an Econic team led by Dr. Rodrigo Montes that included Rob Oandasan, Dr. Yen Tran, Sarah Minster, Dr. Saattvic, and Ishaan Goenka.