Illumina Inc., a leading maker of the machines that sequence genes, said Monday it will pay $7.1 billion in cash and stock for a developer of a long-sought blood test that promises to detect cancer early.
The deal for the part of Grail Inc. that Illumina doesn’t already own will move the company deeper into the application of its gene-sequencing technology to the diagnosis and treatment of patients, a potential multibillion-dollar market.