01:51 PM EDT, 04/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Pfizer ( PFE ) , Baxter International ( BAX ) , Thermo Fisher Scientific ( TMO ) and around 200 other companies were warned by the US Federal Trade Commission that their merger deals could still be challenged even after the 30-day antitrust review period, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The FTC sent at least 204 "close-at-risk" warning letters between June 2021 and July 2022, which account for less than 3% of over 7,700 merger approval filings received by the FTC during the same period, the report said. FTC adopted the practice under the leadership of President Joe Biden's pick Lina Khan. The commission did not have enough resources to investigate all the deals simultaneously, Bloomberg reported.

The news outlet obtained the letters through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. These letters were not made public at the time of dispatch. The agency did not seek to break up any merger deals that triggered those letters.

Pfizer ( PFE ), Baxter, Thermo and the FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment from MT Newswires.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

Price: 27.16, Change: -0.06, Percent Change: -0.24