EU fines US firm Illumina $475 million for jumping gun on buying cancer-screening company Grail

abcnews.go.com:

The European Union has slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying out cancer-screening company Grail without the approval of the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust watchdog

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying cancer-screening company Grail without regulators' approval, the latest setback for the deal.

Illumina announced an $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail in 2020, but the European Commission, the EU's executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, said the company broke EU merger rules by completing the deal without its consent. The 27-nation bloc announced last year that it was blocking the acquisition, saying it would hurt competitors.

“If companies merge before our clearance, they breach our rules. Illumina and Grail knowingly and deliberately did so by implementing their tie-up as we were still investigating,” EU antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. “This is a very serious infringement.”

Regulators worldwide have targeted the deal. The Federal Trade Commission ordered Illumina to sell Grail earlier this year after finding the merger would “stifle competition and innovation in the U.S. market for life-saving cancer tests.”

Similiarly, the EU said the acquisition would squeeze out competitors and give Illumina too dominant of a position in the market.

San Diego-based Illumina is a major supplier of next-generation sequencing systems for genetic and genomic analysis, while Grail is a health company developing blood tests to try to catch cancer early.

Illumina vowed to appeal the European fine — like it did the FTC order — and is waiting for the EU's highest court to rule on its challenge to the commission's ability