Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) has announced that it will acquire cancer screening startup Grail Inc for $8 billion in a statement released this morning.
Grail was founded by Illumina in 2016 but then became its own company using technology powered by Illumina. It is backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
“Over the last four years, GRAIL’s talented team has made exceptional progress in developing the technology and clinical data required to launch the GalleriTM multi-cancer screening test.
“Galleri is among the most promising new tools in the fight against cancer, and we are thrilled to welcome GRAIL back to Illumina to help transform cancer care using genomics and our NGS platform,” said Francis deSouza, Illumina’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Illumina currently holds 14.5% of Grail’s shares, and the agreement will see them pay $3.5 billion in cash and $4.5 billion in shares of Illumina common stock.
The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021.
Illumina shares…
Illumina shares have fallen in premarket trading despite the news. They are currently priced at $295.50, down 3.21% ahead of the US markets opening.
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