BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission (EC) on Tuesday vetoed the takeover of GRAIL, a US biotech specializing in cancer diagnostics, by Illumina, a world leader in genetic sequencing solutions, judging that the transaction at 7.1 billion of dollars would hinder competition in the field of blood tests allowing the early detection of cancers.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, also vice-president of the EU executive, said GRAIL’s independence should be restored and warned that she would issue a separate decision in due course requiring Illumina to cancel the decision. acquisition.
The sequencing specialist Illumina has for its part indicated that it will challenge the decision of the head of European competition policy.
“In order to prepare for the divestment that the European Commission should impose on us in the next few months, the group will start to review the other strategic options for GRAIL, in the event that the divestment is not suspended by the appeal procedure. “, explained Illumina in a press release.
Illumina finalized this operation in August 2021, without waiting for the decision of the European authorities which had imposed on it to maintain GRAIL as a separate entity, managed by a separate management team while the EC decides on this file.
(Foo Yun Chee report, French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Sophie Louet)
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