After being spun off of sequencing giant Illumina, Grail on Tuesday is set to start trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market following a years-long antitrust battle with regulators.
Grail on Monday announced that it has successfully completed its spinoff from DNA sequencing giant Illumina, paving the way for its debut on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The cancer detection biotech will make its public debut on Tuesday, and will trade under the stock ticker symbol GRAL.
“Grail is taking another important step in our journey to shift the paradigm in early cancer detection,” CEO Bob Ragusa said in a statement. Toward this goal, Grail’s Galleri is a clinically validated multi-cancer early detection test “which screens for many of the deadliest cancers, including those with no recommended screening tests today,” according to Ragusa.
“There is nothing acceptable about the status quo in cancer screening today,” Ragusa said, adding that through Galleri, Grail has “an unprecedented opportunity to establish a new standard of care.”
Illumina has provided Grail with “funding” to help the biotech fulfill its long-term plans, according to Monday’s announcement, though the companies did not disclose the amount. The sequencing giant will retain a minority 14.5% stake in Grail.
The completion of Grail’s spinoff—and its Nasdaq debut—ends the years-long antitrust saga involving the cancer detection biotech and Illumina. In September 2020, Illumina announced that it would acquire Grail, putting $8 billion on the line.
The transaction soon attracted strong regulatory scrutiny, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in March 2021 hitting both companies with a complaint, alleging that their proposed merger would “substantially lessen competition in the U.S. multi-cancer early detection test market.”
The union of Illumina and Grail, according to the FTC, would stifle innovation and could potentially increase prices for consumers.
The European Commission (EC) also registered its concerns in July 2021, announcing the launch of an in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition. However, without waiting for the review to be completed, Illumina and Grail pushed through with their merger, forcing the EC to adopt binding measures in October 2021 to keep the two entities separated.
Ultimately, the EC found that Illumina and Grail violated antitrust regulations and in July 2023 slapped Illumina with a record-breaking $476 million fine for moving forward with the acquisition. Grail was also given a symbolic fine of $1,100, the first target company to be sanctioned under the European Union’s merger regulations.
Earlier this month, Illumina’s board of directors voted to spin off Grail.
Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.
