The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “unconditionally cleared Roche’s pending acquisition of Spark”, the Swiss company said in a statement (FABRICE COFFRINI)
<p>Zurich (AFP) – Swiss 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.</p><p>Founded in 2013, Spark Therapeutics specialises in a new and growing segment of medicine for genetic diseases such as blindness, haemophilia, and neurodegenerative conditions.</p><p>The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) "unconditionally cleared Roche’s pending acquisition of Spark", the Swiss company said in a statement on Monday.</p><p>"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.</p><p>Roche and Spark sealed the deal worth $4.3 billion (3.7 billion euros) in February.</p><p>In a 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.</p><p>Spark’s biggest treatment under study is a therapy for haemophilia, a disorder where blood does not clot properly to stop bleeding.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>Roche stocks rose 1.18 percent to 304.10 Swiss Francs Monday on the Swiss stock exchange.</p><p></p>

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