European officials are still examining the 2021-closed merger.
Illumina Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ILMN)
According to Reuters, which cited the Federal Trade Commission, the government plans to challenge the decision of an administrative law judge that Illumina Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ILMN) acquisition of cancer test maker GRAIL won’t harm competition.
The FTC may appeal the judge’s decision to reject the regulator’s claim that the $7.1 billion deal won’t lessen competition in the market for multicancer early detection tests, according to Holly Vedova, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
The corporation considered the GRAIL transaction to be finished in 2021 despite continued regulatory hurdles in the US and Europe. The ILMN-GRAIL antitrust issue is likely to be resolved by the European Commission by September 12.
Seeking Alpha claims that ILMN’s compromises to appease EU officials could “take away much of Grail’s advantage over rivals.” In order to create a blood test that could identify 50 different types of cancer in its early stages, Grail was separated from DNA sequencing behemoth Illumina in 2016. Despite being the target of an FTC probe and an ongoing EU inquiry, Illumina sought to purchase the firm and completed the transaction in August 2021.
Further Illumina Inc.’s scrutiny
The acquisition is still subject to an EU merger assessment, but press reports have suggested that European officials will probably prevent the combination. The European Commission determined in July that Illumina violated the EU’s merger regulations by executing the Grail transaction before receiving regulatory approval.
In a separate court battle, Illumina Inc. had fought to have the commission’s decision to deploy new powers to assess takeovers of low- or zero-revenue targets that had previously slipped under the antitrust radar despite posing a threat to competition overturned. The business intends to challenge that judgment.
This month, Illumina announced that it had set aside $453 million to cover potential EU penalties for finalizing the transaction ahead of the regulatory review’s conclusion.
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Author Jowi Kwasu 
