The recent flurry of acquisitions and partnerships reveals that Big Pharma wants in on the fast-growing, potentially lucrative gene therapy market.
A breakdown of recent deals:
1. Pfizer agreed to pay $636 million for a 15 percent stake in Vivet Therapeutics March 20, according to The Wall Street Journal. Vivet’s most-developed therapy is for Wilson disease, a rare liver disorder that causes copper buildup. Unless treated with a liver transplant, the disease is fatal. Pfizer has also made other strides into the gene-editing space. Rather than acquiring the companies outright, the drugmaker has struck partherships that grant it the rights to specific programs at smaller companies. For example, it is working on a gene therapy for hemophilia A with Sangamo Therapeutics.
2. Roche announced it would buy gene therapy developer Spark Therapeutics for about $4.8 billion in cash Feb. 25. The deal will give Roche access to a gene therapy for blindness priced at $850,000 per patient, as well as other projects for hemophilia and neurodegenerative disorders like Huntington’s disease.
3. Biogen announced its intent to acquire Nightstar Therapeutics for about $800 million in early March. Nightstar Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on adeno-associated virus treatments for inherited eye disorders. Nighstar’s lead asset is for the treatment of choroideremia, a rare degenerative retinal disorder that causes blindness.
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