The EU General Court confirms the Commission may review a merger between two biotech companies even though the EU and national turnover thresholds are not reached (Illumina / Grail)

Yesterday, the General Court of the European Union came down on the side of the European Commission (the Commission ) in that agency’s dispute with genomics firm Illumina and held that the Commission has jurisdiction to examine Illumina's acquisition of cancer detection test start-up Grail, even though the transaction escapes the European and Member State turnover thresholds for review (case T-227/21, Illumina, Inc. v. European Commission – see, attachment). The Commission had decided to start a merger control procedure on 19 April 2021 at the request of France, which was later joined by Belgium, Greece, The Netherlands and European Economic Area countries Iceland and