Illumina Completes Deal for Life-Sciences Firm Grail Despite FTC Antitrust Challenge

WASHINGTON— Illumina Inc. on Wednesday said it completed its planned $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail Inc., despite a pending legal challenge by the Federal Trade Commission and separate antitrust concerns in Europe.

The company said there was no legal impediment to closing the transaction now, and said it moved to do so to prevent regulatory proceedings from killing the deal by running out the clock.

“The stakes here are just too high to risk that outcome,” Illumina Chief Executive Francis deSouza said in an interview. The deal, he said, was important for the companies and for healthcare because it would accelerate the availability of early cancer-detection tests.

The FTC sued in March to block the transaction, arguing that the deal would diminish innovation in the U.S. market for multi-cancer early detection tests. A trial is scheduled to begin next week in the FTC’s administrative court. Illumina would have the right to appeal in a U.S. court if it loses during the commission’s in-house legal proceedings.

San Diego-based Illumina develops and sells next-generation, genetic-sequencing machines and the chemicals used in them. Grail, based in Menlo Park, Calif., was founded by Illumina and spun off in 2017. It has been developing liquid biopsy tests that examine blood samples for genetic signs of cancer, a product that, if successful, could have a significant impact in healthcare.