Illumina, the leading maker of DNA sequencing machines, said Sunday that it would divest Grail, the developer of a multi-cancer screening test, which it bought over the objections of regulators in the U.S. and Europe in August 2021.
Illumina said the decision to spin Grail off followed a Friday decision of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the merger was anti-competitive. It said that it would divest Grail either by selling it to another company or listing it on capital markets, consistent with an order from the European Commission, and that it aims to finalize the terms of the deal by the end of the second quarter of 2024.
The decision opens what should be the final chapter in one of the most disastrous attempted mergers in biotech history. Illumina, a storied name that had delivered investors strong returns over two decades, spun out Grail in 2016 in order to raise money to fund the company’s work. Then, it announced plans to re-acquire the firm for $7.1 billion in Sept. 2020.
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