The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation on Thursday 22 July to assess the proposed acquisition of GRAIL by Illumina under the EU Merger Regulation.
Illumina is a global health technologies company, and leading supplier of next generation sequencing (“NGS”) systems for genetic and genomic analysis, which include NGS instruments, consumables and ancillary services. GRAIL is developing cancer detection tests relying on NGS systems.
The Commission is concerned about the impact of the transaction on the development and supply of cancer screening tests based on NGS systems. The Commission is concerned that, following a merger with GRAIL, Illumina could engage in vertical input foreclosure strategies, given its dominant position in the market for NGS systems (crucial inputs for the development of cancer screening tests).
Illumina may have the ability to implement these foreclosure strategies given its dominant position in the NGS market and may have an economic incentive to foreclose GRAIL’s competitors, the Commission said.
The Commission now has 90 working days (until 29 November 2021) to take a decision.
Link to the case: https://bit.ly/3Btr8P3 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)