WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Illumina Inc, a U.S. maker of genetic analysis equipment, said on Thursday an administrative judge has ruled that its acquisition of cancer detection test maker Grail Inc will not hurt competition, allowing the deal to move forward.
The FTC filed a lawsuit in March 2021 seeking to stop Illumina's $7.1 billion deal to buy its former subsidiary Grail, arguing that the deal would slow innovation for tests that are designed to detect multiple kinds of cancer.
The judge "rejected the FTC's position that the deal would adversely affect competition in a putative market for multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests," Illumina said in a statement.
The FTC has said that Illumina is the dominant provider of DNA sequencing for multi-cancer early detection tests, which Grail uses to make a blood test to detect cancers.
The deal would mean that Illumina would have no incentive to provide the DNA sequencing to Grail's rivals, or would have an incentive to try to raise their costs, the agency had argued.
Despite the challenge, Illumina closed the deal in August 2021 but said it would hold Grail as a separate company with regard to a European review.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; additional reporting by Chris Sanders in Bethesda, Maryland; Editing by Bill Berkrot)