Look­ing to crack down on big bio­phar­ma M&A deals, FTC sues to block Il­lu­mi­na's $8B Grail ac­qui­si­tion

For the sec­ond time in as many years, the FTC is try­ing to block Il­lu­mi­na from mak­ing a mul­ti-bil­lion dol­lar ac­qui­si­tion.

The fed­er­al agency filed a law­suit Tues­day to block the se­quenc­ing gi­ant from buy­ing out Grail and its can­cer-de­tect­ing blood test tech­nol­o­gy. The deal, an­nounced last fall, saw Il­lu­mi­na pay Grail stock­hold­ers $8 bil­lion as a part of the 23-year-old biotech’s broad­er plan to move be­yond se­quenc­ing and in­to ap­pli­ca­tions for the in­sights se­quenc­ing can bring.

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