Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Axios
Axios
Health
Bob Herman

The $5 billion bidding war for Spark Therapeutics

Roche bought Spark for almost $5 billion. Photo courtesy of Spark Therapeutics

A new financial filing from Spark Therapeutics reveals that Roche low-balled its first offer to buy Spark for $70 a share, and then outbid three other pharmaceutical companies over several months before Spark agreed to Roche's offer of $114.50 per share — 64% higher than the original that resulted in the nearly $5 billion deal.

Between the lines: Spark's work centers around gene therapy, where mutated genes are replaced with new ones, and the filing shows its hemophilia research was the crown jewel that had everyone interested.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.