Roche Gets Green Light From US and Europe Regulators To Purchase Gene Therapy Group Spark For US$ 4.3 Billion
Source: Thailand Medical news Dec 17, 2019 4 years, 4 months, 1 week, 1 day, 20 hours, 16 minutes ago
Pharmaceuticals giant
Roche said it had received the necessary approval from competition authorities to acquire US gene-therapy group
Spark, after the two companies reached a multibillion-dollar deal earlier this year.
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Incorporated in 2013,
Spark Therapeutics specialises in a new and growing segment of medicine for genetic diseases such as blindness, haemophilia, and neurodegenerative conditions.
The FTC or US Federal Trade Commission "unconditionally cleared
Roche's pending acquisition of
Spark", the Swiss company said in a media statement that was sent to
Thailand Medical News on Monday.
"All antitrust approvals required to complete the offer have now been received," it said, after confirming earlier Monday that Britain's Competition and Markets Authority had also cleared the pending acquisition.
Spark and
Roche sealed the deal worth $4.3 billion (3.7 billion euros) in February.
In another separate statement, the FTC said it had made its decision "following an exhaustive, 10-month investigation" into potential competitive harm that could result from the move.
Spark's biggest treatment under study is a therapy for
haemophilia, a disorder where blood does not clot properly to stop bleeding.
"A key question in the investigation was whether
Roche would have the incentive to delay or discontinue Spark's developmental gene therapy for
hemophilia A," the FTC said.
"The evidence... did not indicate that
Roche would have the incentive to delay or terminate"
Spark's therapy development, or affect
Roche's haemophilia drug
Hemlibra, it concluded.
Roche stocks rose 1.18 percent to 304.10 Swiss Francs Monday on the Swiss stock exchange.
Basel-based
Roche wants to buy U.S.-based Spark to gain a foothold in gene therapy and add to its growing portfolio of
hemophilia A products. Its
Hemlibra product, an anti-hemophilia A drug, is due to surpass $1 billion sales this year.
Hemophilia sufferers lack a protein that helps blood to clot, putting them at risk of serious health complications including internal bleeding, joint damage or death.
Hemophilia has traditionally been one of the most expensive and for companies, most lucrative treatment areas, with clotting factors running into the millions of dollars annually for some cases.
