FTC challenge to Illumina’s Grail acquisition focused on potential harms from its supplier role

The FTC’s 4-0 vote to challenge Illumina’s pending $7.1 billion Grail acquisition aligns with acting agency Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter’s vow to expand scrutiny of biotech M&A beyond the traditional scope of product overlap. Though at least one industry leader thinks the circumstances of this case are exceptional, it still raises questions about whether there will be hurdles for other acquisitions in the early cancer detection space.

At the heart of the rare move to block a vertical integration is the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s concern that the next-generation sequencing (NGS) business of Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is too fundamental to Grail’s competitors. ...