![]() The complaint identifies Thermo Fisher and Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) as the only other providers of NGS products. ![]() multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test market by diminishing innovation and potentially increasing prices and reducing the choice and quality of MCED tests.Īccording to the complaint, Illumina is a near monopolist in next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS), which is a critical input in MCED tests. The FTC alleges that Illumina’s proposed acquisition of Grail would substantially lessen competition in the U.S. This is the first time in recent memory that the FTC is challenging a vertical merger in court it represents the FTC’s first challenge under newly issued Vertical Merger Guidelines and it is the first suit filed under Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Slaughter-all of which demonstrates that the FTC is likely to take a more aggressive approach to vertical merger enforcement for at least the next four years. The FTC alleges a vertical theory of harm whereby the merger would give Illumina both the incentive and ability to disadvantage Grail’s multi-cancer testing competitors by raising their costs for, or by foreclosing them from, accessing Illumina’s must-have NGS technology. Illumina sells next-generation gene sequencing (NGS) equipment and consumables, while Grail is developing a multi-cancer early detection test that uses Illumina’s NGS platform. On March 30, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it voted in unanimous, bipartisan fashion (4-0) to file a complaint to block Illumina’s proposed acquisition of Grail. Illumina/Grail – FTC’s First Vertical Merger Challenge in Decades
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