Roche acquires Spark Therapeutics, in an all-stock transaction for $114.50 /share in cash, making the total deal value $4.3B. Spark to receive a premium of 122% based on its last day closing share price value i.e., 22Feb’19
The focus of the acquisition is to expand Roche’s footprints in genetic disorders incl. blindness, hemophilia, lysosomal storage disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases
Spark Therapeutics’ portfolio includes SPK-8011 & SPK-8016 for hemophilia A, SPK-9001 for haemophilia B, SPK-3006 for Pompe disease, SPK-1001 for CLN2 disease and Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec–rzyl) approved for confirmed biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy. The transaction is expected to close in the Q2’19
CI Comments/ Implications:
Roche’s interest in acquiring Spark was fueled largely by Spark’s experimental hemophilia A gene therapy treatment, along with its already approved therapy which can be considered as a smart move to expand its presence in treating hemophilia.
It seems that Roche’s interest in Spark may have triggered after Novartis owned Spark’s rare disease molecule Luxturna
With Roche’s experience in hemophilia and neurodegenerative disease, and with spark’s luxturna success, it seems to be a good fit to the strategy of Roche for increasing its portfolio