Antitrust regulator clears path for Roche to finally buy Spark Therapeutics

Nearly a year after Roche announced a planned takeover of gene therapy pioneer Spark Therapeutics, the $4.3 deal finally looks poised to soon go through. The deal sparked antitrust investigations on both sides of the Atlantic, but yesterday morning, a British regulator cleared the transaction, and yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission did too.

Critics of the proposed deal had been concerned that Roche, which sells a drug for hemophilia, would slow down or end the development of Spark's experimental gene therapy for the condition. But the FTC said its investigation found no evidence that Roche would have incentive to do that.