Spark Therapeutics publicly listed in 2015 and is set to net Children's Hospital of Philadelphia up to $458m following its acquisition by Roche.

Spark Therapeutics, a US-listed gene therapy developer originally spun out from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is to be acquired by pharmaceuticals supplier Roche for $114.50 per share, Reuters reported yesterday. The transaction is anticipated to total $4.3bn when it closes in the second quarter of 2019, generating Spark more than twice its closing price as of February 22. CHOP’s foundation held a 10.7% stake in Spark as of April 2018, according to Modern Healthcare, and it would secure $458m for selling its 4 million shares in the deal. Founded in 2013 as AAVenue Therapeutics, Spark has amassed a portfolio of medicines that pump genetic material into malfunctioning cells to help treat inherited retinal and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as conditions that can be targeted via the liver. Apart from commercialising CHOP research, Spark Therapeutics has also licensed intellectual property from University of Iowa and University of Pennsylvania. Spark already has US and European regulatory approval for its blindness therapy Luxturna, priced at approximately $850,000 per patient. The company’s development pipeline includes a medication designated SPK-8011 for the inherited clotting disorder haemophilia A which is expected to undergo phase 3 clinical trials later in 2019. Other drug candidates include potential therapies for blindness-causing choroideremia, Huntington’s disease and Pompe disease – inherited disorders which respectively undermine the patient’s vision, brain function and muscle strength. Roche reportedly views the purchase as a move towards closing the gap on rival drug makers in the gene therapy space. Spark suffered a setback in 2018 when two participants in clinical trials of SPK-8011 displayed a negative immune response to higher dosages, however Roche is hopeful the use of steroids could overcome the problems. Spark Therapeutics went public in 2015 in a $161m initial public offering that priced its stock at $23 per share. The spinout had previously raised $72.8m in a series B round led by VC firm Sofinnova Ventures that included CHOP, Deerfield Management, Brookside Capital, Rock Springs Capital and Wellington Management. Unspecified investment funds and accounts managed by T.Rowe Price Associates also took part in the round, as did two unnamed healthcare-focused vehicles, after CHOP had committed $50m of series A financing to Spark in 2013, $10m of which was invested up front.

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?