25 February 2019 - A deal for gene-therapy developer Spark could help reset what’s now an exorbitant corner of the market.
One of the world's biggest drug makers is betting on some very expensive medicines.
On Monday, Roche Holding AG said it will buy Spark Therapeutics, a Philadelphia-based biotech firm focused on potentially curative one-time treatments that modify human genes, for $4.8 billion.
Spark's first medicine, Luxturna, can stave off blindness in people with a rare eye disease. Its late-stage haemophilia gene therapies could help people live without a lifetime of expensive infusions.