Federal Trade Commission Challenges Illumina's Proposed Acquisition of Pacific Biosciences

By Brent Kendall

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission said it is challenging Illumina Inc.'s proposed $1.2 billion deal to buy Pacific Biosciences of California.

The FTC is bringing an administrative lawsuit alleging the biotech acquisition would allow Illumina to unlawfully maintain a monopoly in next-generation DNA sequencing by eliminating PacBio as a nascent competitor.

The commission also said it would file a concurrent action in federal court if necessary to block the deal temporarily while it seeks to hold a full trial in its own administrative court.

The FTC said the acquisition would eliminate both current and future competition between San Diego-based Illumina and PacBio, based in Menlo Park, Calif.

Neither Illumina nor PacBio immediately responded to requests to comment.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 17, 2019 16:43 ET (21:43 GMT)

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