Roche will pay $4.3 billion for a chance to lead in gene therapy

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding announced the purchase of the American biotech company Spark Therapeutics for $4.3 billion. Roche is paying a premium to gain a foothold in the field of gene therapy for congenital and hereditary diseases, one of the most promising and profitable branches of modern medicine.

More: Roche will buy back shares of Spark Therapeutics at $114.5 per share, which is 2.2 times the value of the company's securities at the close of trading on Nasdaq on Friday. The premium to the average annual quotes is more modest - 19%.

The Spark Therapeutics portfolio includes Luxturna, a gene therapy drug for the treatment of a hereditary form of vision loss, approved by the FDA in 2017, and an experimental treatment for hemophilia type A. Four more drugs for hemophilia are in clinical trials.

Context. With the new deal, Roche moves further away from its focus on cancer drugs, in which it remains the world leader. In this area, competition has recently grown strongly due to the so-called biosimilars to its effective, but aging drugs. Roche's revenue from the "big three" anti-cancer drugs (Rituxan, Avastin, Herceptin) will halve by 2022, to CHF 11 billion ( forecast ). 2016 EvaluatePharma

Hemophilia is Roche's new mainstream. In 2017, the company secured U.S. approval of hemlibra for the treatment of hemophilia A, the most common type of the disease. But it's not genetic.

Investors worried about Roche's lagging behind in hemophilia gene therapy. Spark Therapeutics is practically the only independent company that has not only created a successful gene drug, but also brought it to the market, Bloomberg notes. So Roche is unlikely to overpay for an asset that can make it a leader in the sector, the agency's expert says.

Gene therapy drugs are being developed by Roche's competitors Pfizer and Novartis. In 2017, Pfizer agreed to develop a drug for the treatment of hemophilia type B with Spark, and Novartis bought gene therapy drug developer AveXis for $8.7 billion.

A course of treatment for a genetic disease can cost about $1 million. Hemophilia is one of the most common hereditary diseases. There are approximately 400,000 patients with hemophilia in the world, about 9,000 patients are registered in Russia.

Details. Spark Therapeutics, founded in 2013, develops gene therapy therapies and drugs for a variety of genetic diseases, including blindness, hemophilia, lysosomal memory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Roche Holding is a Swiss biotechnology company founded in 1896, leading in the development of drugs for the treatment of oncological and infectious diseases, disorders of the central nervous system and the immune system.

Anna Kovalenko