Illumina Granted Fast-Track Appeal Of FTC Order

On Tuesday, a US appeals court announced that it will expedite the review of Illumina’s challenge against a federal agency’s order for the company to sell Grail, a cancer diagnostic test maker.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans made a decision despite the Federal Trade Commission’s objection. The commission stated that Illumina had not provided sufficient reasoning for the court to expedite its review of the antitrust conflict.

San Diego-based company Illumina, which specializes in gene sequencing, is currently appealing an FTC order issued on April 3rd. The order asserted that Illumina’s acquisition of Grail for $7.1 billion would result in reduced competition within the cancer-testing market. Illumina has denied these allegations.

Related: When Bad Antitrust Costs Lives: The Illumina/GRAIL Tragedy

The FTC expressed concern about the accelerated pace of the litigation and argued that an expedited schedule would be detrimental to its case due to the number and complexity of the issues Illumina plans to bring up, as per their statement to the 5th Circuit.

Attorneys for Illumina stated in a court filing that expedited review could potentially provide earlier access to a cancer screening test and remove obstacles in the fight against cancer.