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☆ Illumina unveils plans to cut costs as it faces shrinking margins
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A building on the campus at the world headquarters of Illumina is shown in San Diego, California, September 1, 2021. Illumina on Tuesday unveiled plans to cut costs in a bid to improve the DNA sequencing company's shrinking margins. Among Illumina's plans is to use its NovaSeq X sequencing system to accelerate genomic discoveries. The San Diego-based company said it also plans to save by "enabling activities" in more cost-effective areas around the world. The Grail deal is also the focus of a proxy fight between activist investor Carl Icahn and Illumina.

CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Grail Inc FollowIllumina Inc Follow(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said it will accelerate reviewing Illumina Inc's challenge to a federal agency order requiring the biotechnology company to divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail LLC. The agency said Illumina had not shown why the appeals court needed to speed up its consideration of the antitrust dispute. San Diego-based Illumina, which specializes in gene sequencing, is appealing an April 3 FTC order that said the company's $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail will curb competition in the cancer-testing market. The FTC in 2021 sued Illumina over its bid for Grail, a former subsidiary of the company. The case is Illumina Inc and Grail Inc v. Federal Trade Commission, 5th U.S.

☆ Carl Icahn says Illumina’s appeal of FTC order to divest Grail is ‘an almost impossible battle’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Carl Icahn on Wednesday said Illumina 's efforts to appeal a Federal Trade Commission order to divest the highly contested Grail acquisition "is an almost impossible battle." Illumina on Monday told CNBC it intends to appeal the FTC's order in federal court, and will seek an expedited decision. The FTC's order reverses an administrative judge's September ruling, which dismissed the commission's initial challenge to the Grail deal. The company last year appealed a similar order by European Union regulators to unwind the Grail deal. The company on Wednesday said in a statement to CNBC that it has a "strong case on appeal" of the FTC's order.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday ordered Illumina (ILMN.O) to divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail, finding that its ownership would stifle competition in the U.S. market for cancer tests. Illumina said it would appeal the decision, and will seek expedited consideration from an appeals court. The company said the FTC order to unwind the deal would be automatically put on hold. Meanwhile, Illumina completed the takeover of Grail in August 2021, despite the lack of regulatory approval from Europe or the United States. He has called for Illumina, now valued at $36 billion, to unwind its deal for Grail, which he called a risky acquisition that cost shareholders $50 billion.

☆ FTC orders Illumina to divest $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday ordered Illumina to divest its controversial acquisition of cancer test developer Grail, saying the deal would stifle competition and innovation. The decision reverses an administrative judge's September ruling, which dismissed the FTC's initial challenge to the $7.1 billion deal. Illumina said in a statement that it intends to appeal the FTC's decision in federal court and will seek an expedited decision. "The acquisition of GRAIL potentially gives Illumina incentives to favor GRAIL over its rivals by providing GRAIL preferential access or preferential terms for acquiring NGS inputs," the FTC said. Illumina also "stands to earn substantially more profit on the sale of GRAIL tests than it does by supporting rival test developers," the commission added.

☆ Carl Icahn wants to bring back Illumina's ex-CEO -WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A sign at the front entrance to the global headquarters of Illumina is pictured in San Diego, California, U.S., November 28, 2022. REUTERS/Mike BlakeMarch 29 (Reuters) - Carl Icahn wants former Illumina (ILMN.O) CEO Jay Flatley back at the U.S. life sciences firm, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, as the activist investor intensifies his proxy fight that was launched earlier this month. In an interview with the WSJ, Icahn signaled that Illumina "should bring Flatley back as CEO immediately". Icahn and Illumina did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reporting by Leroy Leo and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Carl Icahn wants to bring back Illumina's ex-CEO 'immediately' as proxy fight intensifies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Carl Icahn on Wednesday said Illumina should bring back its former CEO "immediately," his latest move in a brewing proxy fight with the biotech company. Flatley helmed the company for 17 years before he was succeeded by current CEO Francis deSouza in 2016. Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in Illumina, lambasted the company's current management in the interview. He told the Journal that executives are making the mistake of holding onto Illumina's $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail in 2021. He told the Journal that Illumina can't afford to keep Grail under current macroeconomic conditions.

☆ Carl Icahn claims Illumina directors got extra insurance to close 'disastrous' $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Carl Icahn on Friday alleged that Illumina 's directors demanded extra personal liability insurance before the biotech company signed off on a $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail in 2021. Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in Illumina, is pushing for board seats at the DNA sequencing company. Illumina prevailed over the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's opposition to the Grail deal in September, but is fighting for European regulatory approval. Last year, the EU's executive body, the European Commission, blocked Illumina's acquisition of Grail over concerns it would hurt consumer choice. The company's market cap has shrunk to roughly $34 billion from about $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed the Grail deal.

☆ Biotech company Illumina pushes back against Carl Icahn’s proxy fight over $7.1 billion Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Biotech company Illumina pushed back Monday against Carl Icahn's proxy fight over the company's acquisition of cancer test developer Grail, saying the activist investor's board nominees "do not add value." "To paraphrase William Shakespeare's Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Illumina," Icahn wrote. Illumina said winning a jurisdictional appeal would eliminate any potential fine and "gives the greatest optionality for Illumina to maximize value for shareholders." The company also claimed Icahn recognizes the value of Grail to shareholders, pointing to a CNBC interview last week where Icahn referred to Grail as Illumina's "best equipment." Illumina touted Grail in its release, saying it has "tremendous long-term value creation potential."

☆ Icahn proposes three candidates for Illumina’s board — Here’s what could be next in the battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

However, Icahn has had extensive activist experience at health-care companies. Since the acquisition closed in August 2021, Illumina's stock price fell by 57% from $522.89 to $225.88, eliminating $47 billion of shareholder value. Icahn's nominees have significant restructuring, corporate governance, M&A, capital markets and legal experience — five things the company desperately needs. Moreover, even after this battle started, they did not add anyone with legal experience to the board. Now, when Icahn suggests they add to the board Jesse Lynn, general counsel to Icahn Enterprises with 27 years of legal experience, the board responds that he lacks the relevant skills and experience.

☆ Activist investor Icahn launches proxy fight at Illumina
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mike BlakeMarch 13 (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn on Monday launched a proxy fight at Illumina Inc (ILMN.O), saying the life sciences company's takeover of Grail Inc (GRAL.O) had cost shareholders about $50 billion since the closing of the deal. Shares of Illumina jumped more than 20% to $233.50 in morning trade, and have declined 7.2% since the deal closed in August 2021. Icahn plans to nominate three people to Illumina's board at the company's upcoming shareholder meeting, he said in a letter sent to shareholders. "We have therefore determined to launch a proxy contest to attempt to gain board representation," Icahn said, adding he feared the company's board will continue to pursue the Grail transaction. Icahn said his nominees - Vincent Intrieri, Jesse Lynn and Andrew Teno - would help keep Illumina from "sinking further".

☆ Illumina CEO: Genomics in children's hospitals will be the biggest part of the market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIllumina CEO: Genomics in children's hospitals will be the biggest part of the marketFrancis Desouza, Illumina CEO and Disney board member, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the future of gene sequencing and what Illumina is doing, the promise behind Illumina's GRAIL and more.

☆ Here are 5 winners and 4 losers from the healthcare industry's most important event of the year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Andrew Dunn | Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The healthcare industry's most influential investor conference was held in person this week. The J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference helps set the tone for the year for biotech. Insider identified five winners and four losers from the week. Amid severe-weather warnings and rain, about 8,000 attendees came to see over 400 healthcare companies present at the 41st annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference this week, kicking off a chaotic week of networking, pitching investors, and striking deals. Insider pinpointed five winners and four losers from this year's event.

"The jury is still out," on which technology will dominate, said Dr. Sadik Esener, director of the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon. He added it could take as long as 20 years to show that an early cancer detection test saved lives. If proven to work, early cancer detection tests could help doctors identify cancer risk in patients long before symptoms or other indicators develop. DIFFERENT APPROACHESSeveral of the leading contenders take vastly different approaches to cancer detection and it is not yet clear which methods will prove most useful or when. Some are working on blood tests to detect different markers of early cancer, including proteins.

☆ Guardant DNA blood test finds 83% of colorectal cancers in trial, shares fall 39%
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Cologuard, a stool-based DNA test, identifies 92% of colorectal cancers and 42% of pre-cancerous polyps, according to data from Exact Sciences (EXAS.O), which markets the test. Guardant said that a subsequent colonoscopy ruled out colon cancer in 10% of people who tested positive with its DNA blood test. "This is a huge unmet clinical need," Talasaz said of a blood test for detecting colon cancer. "There are still 50 million people out there who are not complying with colorectal cancer screening." Guardant is currently enrolling patients in a different trial of its DNA blood test for detecting lung cancer, Talasaz said.

☆ Moderna's CEO predicts how the biotech's work in cancer vaccines could transform healthcare, starting with your annual physical
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Personalized cancer vaccines could provide a new way to fight early cancer cases. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told Insider he thinks cancer vaccines can upend cancer care. In an interview, Bancel shared his vision on how these personalized cancer vaccines could transform cancer care. Based off the blood work, Moderna would design vaccines that target the genetic mutations in cancerous cells that stand out from healthy cells. The blood tests could find cancer before it grows too much, and mRNA vaccines could squash it.

☆ EU charge sheet tells Illumina to swiftly unwind Grail deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Monday proposed measures for U.S. life sciences company Illumina (ILMN.O) to unwind its acquisition of biotech firm Grail (GRAL.O), three months after blocking the deal on concerns that it would hurt competition. Illumina completed the takeover of Grail in August 2021, without securing European Union regulatory approval. The European Commission said in a September veto decision that the company failed to offer adequate remedies to allay its worries and opened a separate case to force Illumina to unravel the deal. Illumina said the EU proposal was out of proportion and that any divestment should wait for the outcomes of two lawsuits launched by the company against the Commission. "We believe divestment is not proportional to the speculative harm alleged by the Commission," Illumina said in a statement on Monday.

☆ EU renews order for Illumina to keep Grail as separate entity
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Friday renewed interim measures ordering U.S. life sciences company Illumina (ILMN.O) to keep Grail (GRAL.O) as a separate entity pending an order to unwind the takeover completed before the deal had been approved. The interim order, which was due to expire at the end of the month, was issued by the competition enforcer last year after Illumina jumped the gun and acquired Grail before securing the EU green light. "The European Commission has renewed and adjusted, under the EU Merger Regulation, the interim measures that ensure that Illumina and GRAIL remain separate following the Commission's decision to block the merger," the EU watchdog said in a statement. Under the interim measures, Grail must be run by independent managers exclusively in the interest of the company and it cannot share confidential business information with Illumina, though there could be very limited exceptions with safeguards. Illumina, which has challenged the Commission's veto, will be required to provide funds for Grail to develop cancer detection tests it has in the pipeline.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Apple, Netflix, Biogen, Canopy Growth and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple — Apple shares fell 3.4% on Wednesday following a report that the company is ditching plans to boost new iPhone production. Instead of aiming to increase output by 6 million units in the second half of the year as it had planned, it will shoot for 90 million units, unchanged from the prior year, according to Bloomberg. Biogen — Shares of the biopharmaceutical company soared 37% following upbeat results from its experimental Alzheimer's drug study and a slew of upgrades from analysts. Biogen and its Japanese partner Eisai said the drug reduced cognitive decline by 27% and slowed the progression of the disease. Canopy Growth — Shares of the cannabis company were up 2.6% on plans to pull back from its retail operations in Canada.

☆ Illumina's Grail expands use of cancer detection test with life insurer deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoSept 20 (Reuters) - Cancer detection test maker Grail, acquired by Illumina Inc (ILMN.O) last year despite ongoing antitrust challenges, on Tuesday said it would expand use of its flagship Galleri test through a new agreement with life insurer John Hancock, a division of Manulife Financial (MFC.TO). The test, designed to detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear, looks at the DNA in a patient's blood to determine whether any come from cancer cells. Data have shown that, across the 50 cancer types, including early-stage to late-stage, the Galleri test correctly identified the presence of cancer in 51.5% of cases. read moreJohn Hancock said it is the first life insurance carrier to offer, under its wellness program, policyholder access to Grail's early cancer detection test. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in March 2021 to stop the acquisition on the basis that it would slow innovation for cancer detection tests.

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