Illumina has sharply increased its spending on lobbying over the past two years as it tries to build support against antitrust regulators in the US and Europe who have tried to block its $8 billion acquisition of cancer testing company Grail.
The world’s largest genome sequencing company and its subsidiary Grail will spend a combined $14.6mn on federal lobbying in the US in 2021 and 2022, five times the $2.72mn they spent in the previous two years, according to public disclosures was more than
According to an analysis by transparency group OpenSecrets, Illumina was the fourth-biggest spender on lobbying among biotech and pharma companies in 2022 at $9.4 million, trailing only Pfizer, Roche and Amgen, which are much larger companies.
Illumina’s market capitalization is roughly $33bn, about a quarter of Amgen’s and well below Pfizer’s $246bn valuation.
The lobbying data includes spending by Grail, a company that Illumina acquired in August 2021 but continues to operate as a subsidiary while it fights an order from EU antitrust regulators barring the transaction. Want to
Illumina, which is due to report fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, said it continues to operate the grill separately and lobbies on a broad range of health-related topics.
“Illumina’s mission is to save lives through groundbreaking technology and innovation, and our support work reflects all aspects of that mission.”
It added: “The acquisition of Grail has been the subject of regulatory challenges in both the US and the European Union, and Illumina believes it is essential that all stakeholders understand how this transaction will advance cancer treatment by making Grail lifesaving.” Will replace . . . widely accessible and affordable testing.
Illumina’s efforts to convince regulators that its acquisition of Grail, which it founded in 2017 before spinning off, does not violate antitrust laws have so far proved unsuccessful.
In September, a US administrative judge ruled in favor of Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, rejecting the Federal Trade Commission’s argument that it would reduce competition in the cancer testing market. The FTC is appealing the decision.
Illumina has in recent years contracted more than a dozen Washington firms to lobby on its behalf, including Siddeley Austin, DLA Piper and Dentons Global Advisors. The revelations suggest that these firms have tried to influence MPs on the acquisition of Grail.
Since October, Illumina has paid Denton approximately $150,000 to lobby the US Senate, Department of Commerce and House of Representatives on federal antitrust policy and its implementation.
It has paid Sidley Austin, a law firm headquartered in Chicago, $2.8 million through 2021 to lobby members of both houses of Congress on efforts to acquire the grill, among other issues. DLA Piper has received a fee of about $ 4.9 million since April 2021.
Illumina CEO Francis D’Souza told the Financial Times in an interview last month that the political climate in the US and EU had become more hostile to mergers and acquisitions.
“Overall there is a tide against the Biden administration and what is happening in Europe. , , Big deals and consolidation,” he said.
Illumina has also expanded its lobbying effort to Europe and the UK, where it hired former prime minister David Cameron as a consultant in 2019, shortly before winning a contract with the company, owned by the Department of Health and Social Care. Illumina said it no longer employs Cameron as a paid advisor.
In September the European Commission blocked the Grail deal, which Illumina had already completed, and in the coming weeks Brussels is expected to fine Illumina up to $450 million for closing the acquisition.
Public disclosures on the European Commission’s transparency register show that representatives of Illumina held seven meetings with senior executives in 2021 to discuss the public health benefits of the Grail acquisition and antitrust matters.
Additional reporting by Javier Espinoza in Brussels
