FTC Moves to Block Illumina’s $7.1 Billion Acquisition of Grail

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a legal challenge against Illumina’s proposed $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail, the maker of a liquid biopsy cancer test, with the intention of blocking the purchase.

The commission argues that the proposed deal would harm U.S. innovation for multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests, liquid biopsy tests that Grail and several other companies are developing. Specifically, the FTC is concerned that the acquisition would put Illumina, the only practical supplier of a critical test component, in a position to increase prices charged to Grail’s rivals for next-generation sequencing platforms and consumables, products required by MCED test developers to distribute their tests to third-party labs.

Grail makes a noninvasive detection test that can screen for multiple types of cancer in asymptomatic patients at very early stages using DNA sequencing. The FTC said it will file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would halt the deal prior to an administrative trial. That trial is slated to start on Aug. 24.