Federal Trade Commission Challenges Illumina's Proposed Acquisition of Pacific Biosciences -- Update
December 17 2019 - 5:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday challenged
Illumina Inc.'s. proposed acquisition of Pacific Biosciences of
California, a $1.2 billion deal in the life-sciences industry.
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 next-gen sequencing is a rapidly expanding technology used
in genetic research and clinical testing, and PacBio has been
making advancements that making it a growing threat to Illumina,
the market leader, the FTC alleged.
The FTC said the acquisition would eliminate both current and
future competition between San Diego-based Illumina and PacBio,
based in Menlo Park, Calif.
"When a monopolist buys a potential rival, it can harm
competition," said Gail Levine, deputy director of the FTC's bureau
of competition. "These deals help monopolists maintain power."
The commission plans to hold full legal proceedings in its own
administrative court but also said it would file a concurrent
action in federal court if necessary to block the deal
temporarily.
"We strongly disagree with the FTC's decision and will continue
to work through the regulatory approval process as we consider next
steps," an Illumina spokesman said. "We believe that the
acquisition will benefit the industry and customers."
Illumina announced the deal in November 2018.
The lawsuit comes as the FTC has faced growing criticism for
allowing large, market-leading companies to buy up potential future
rivals, particularly in the tech sector.
The commission is now scrutinizing past tech acquisitions made
by Facebook Inc. as part of its investigation into the social media
giant.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 17, 2019 17:15 ET (22:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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