Statement of Gail Levine, Deputy Director of FTC Bureau of Competition, Regarding the Announcement that Illumina Inc. has Abandoned Its Proposed Acquisition of Pacific Biosciences of California

Following today’s announcement that the parties are abandoning their proposed merger, Gail Levine, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition, made this statement:

“This deal threatened to let a monopolist extinguish nascent competition in a growing health care market: next-generation DNA sequencing. Customers across the United States and the world will now continue to benefit from the independent innovative efforts of these companies to develop faster, better, and less expensive next-generation DNA sequencing technologies.”

On December 17, 2019, the Commission voted 5-0 to file an administrative complaint and authorize staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal court to stop the proposed $1.2 billion acquisition.

The FTC charged that the proposed merger would likely eliminate nascent competition in the U.S. market for next-generation DNA sequencing systems and allow Illumina to maintain its monopoly in that market.

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