WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Trade Commission on Friday said it will appeal an administrative judge’s decision earlier this week in favor of Illumina Inc’s acquisition of cancer detection test maker Grail Inc, according to a spokesperson.
The FTC’s chief administrative law judge had ruled the acquisition will not hurt competition, in a blow to the agency, which was challenging the deal.
Increasing competition has been a mandate of the Biden administration, and the FTC’s Director of the Bureau of Competition Holly Vedova had said on Thursday the agency might challenge the court ruling.
The FTC filed a lawsuit in March 2021 to stop Illumina’s $7.1 billion deal to buy its former subsidiary Grail, arguing the deal would slow innovation for tests designed to detect multiple kinds of cancer. The vote to sue was unanimous.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
