Stock Market News

Illumina defends $7.1 billion Grail buy to fend off antitrust regulators

2022.12.13 18:38

[ad_1]


© Reuters. The offices of gene sequencing company Illumina Inc are shown in San Diego, California January 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. life sciences company Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:) on Tuesday defended its $7.1 billion acquisition of biotech firm Grail Inc , pledging to keep selling its DNA sequencing services to other firms, as it seeks to head off a potential vote by U.S. antitrust regulators to kill the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust law, filed a complaint in March 2021 to stop Illumina’s bid for its former subsidiary Grail. The agency cited concerns that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing for multi-cancer early detection tests, might raise prices or refuse to keep selling to rivals of Grail, which is seeking to market a powerful test to diagnose many kinds of cancer from a single blood test.

However, Illumina completed the takeover of Grail in August 2021, without winning regulatory approval from Europe or the United States. In September, the FTC’s chief administrative law judge overruled the commissioners’ 2021 vote blocking the deal, allowing it to proceed.

Illumina still faces one major U.S hurdle, the possibility that FTC commissioners vote to overrule the judge, which would force Illumina to unwind the acquisition.

In a public FTC hearing and in an effort to defend against such a move, Illumina’s advocate, attorney David Marriott, said that Illumina had no reason to stop selling to test producers that compete with Grail. “It would be Illumina shooting itself in the foot,” he said.

Marriott also argued that the Grail test will save lives by allowing early detection of cancers. He also pointed to an offer that the company made to sign contracts to supply any of Grail’s rivals and a promise not to raise prices.

The FTC’s Susan Musser, leading the agency’s arguments against the deal, countered that Grail’s rivals might have a harder time getting inputs to run their cancer detection tests if the acquisition wins final approval.

“No matter what Illumina does with regard to pricing, supply or support, Grail’s rivals have simply no functional alternative,” she said. “Grail’s rivals must simply take the punch.”

The deal still faces headwinds in Europe. In Brussels in early December, EU antitrust regulators proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail, three months after blocking the deal on concerns that it would hurt competition. The EU antitrust watchdog is set to issue a final decision in early 2023.

[ad_2]

Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 84,357.60 0.21%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,925.95 0.14%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.00%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 2.39 3.02%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 607.32 2.15%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 135.17 0.06%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.00%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.741233 1.60%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.175114 0.10%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.220172 1.25%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 1,924.77 0.04%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 84,205.56 0.19%
pi-network
Pi Network (PI) $ 1.50 3.08%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.73 0.32%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 14.04 0.64%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.44 15.46%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.274274 2.75%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,305.76 0.02%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.03%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 19.69 4.77%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.192266 1.70%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000013 0.45%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 2.33 2.38%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 92.34 0.02%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 339.42 1.12%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.34 1.32%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 6.56 3.65%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 0.99983 0.00%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 1,926.62 0.01%
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.45 0.42%
binance-bridged-usdt-bnb-smart-chain
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00 0.30%
hyperliquid
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 13.95 2.86%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 28.85 1.22%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,046.44 0.09%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 211.99 0.35%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.24 1.48%
susds
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.04 0.03%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 5.34 0.70%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999815 0.00%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.64 0.82%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000007 1.82%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.81 1.45%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 46.58 1.35%
ondo-finance
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.869393 1.61%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.96 1.22%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.798476 8.46%
gatechain-token
Gate (GT) $ 21.65 0.47%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 172.35 2.34%
coinbase-wrapped-btc
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 84,344.60 0.09%
official-trump
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 11.98 1.37%