Judge Rules in Favor of Illumina in Trial vs FTC
2022.09.01 20:26
Judge Rules in Favor of Illumina (ILMN) in Trial vs FTC
By Sam Boughedda
Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced Thursday that a judge presiding over the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) challenge of its GRAIL acquisition has ruled in favor of the company.
The ruling is a blow to the FTC, which had been trying to unwind the $7.1 billion proposed acquisition of Grail, a cancer detection test maker.
The FTC believes the deal would harm innovation and boost prices.
However, Illumina said the judge rejected the FTC’s position that the deal would adversely affect competition for multi-cancer early detection tests.
“Reuniting Illumina and GRAIL will transform the detection and treatment of cancer by facilitating widespread, affordable access to GRAIL’s life-saving Galleri test. This decision is a step toward making that vision a reality,” declared Francis deSouza, Chief Executive Officer of Illumina.
Illumina founded GRAIL seven years ago, but it was split off as a separate business for funding and development purposes.
Illumina shares are down over 3% at the time of writing.
