Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, PhD
UPDATE 7/24/2025
From Fierce Biotech https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/roche-overhauls-spark-gene-therapy-unit-recording-24b-full-impairment
UPDATE: Roche overhauls Spark gene therapy unit, recording $2.4B in full impairment
Roche has recently launched a “fundamental reorganization” of Spark Therapeutics, the gene therapy unit the Swiss pharma bought for $4.3 billion in 2019.
Roche described the restructuring in its annual finance report (PDF) published in late January. The move is part of the company’s wider strategic change across its pharma division, a company spokesperson told Fierce Pharma.
The entire Spark team is subject to reshuffling, raising a question of whether the Spark brand itself will be preserved. Of the 647 employees that Spark employed as of April 17, 337 employees will be laid off, while the rest 310 will have their jobs integrated into the parent Roche, a Roche spokesperson told Fierce Pharma in an update.
Details of the plans, such as which functions those 310 people will assume at Roche, are still being finalized. In the January report, Roche said certain activities will remain at the current Spark site in Philadelphia, while others will be consolidated into the broader pharmaceuticals division.
“By fully integrating Spark into Roche, we more closely align,” the Roche spokesperson said.
Roche is currently working through the integration planning and expects to have details later this year, the spokesperson said.
In late 2021, Roche committed to a $575 million plan to build a new 500,000-square-foot gene therapy innovation center in Philadelphia. The multistory facility continues to be built, according to the spokesperson.
Spark Therapeutics’ $4.8B deal confirmed as biggest-ever VC-backed exit in Philly
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The eye-popping $4.8 billion sticker price on Spark Therapeutics’acquisition deal with Roche announced on Monday is shaping up to be the largest exit ever within city limits for a venture-backed company, according to data from financial data provider PitchBook and the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT).
“Filtering down to just Philadelphia proper does reveal that Spark Therapeutics, once the deal closes, will be the biggest exit ever for Philly-based venture-backed exits,” the company said in an email, citing data from an upcoming report.
According to the Seattle-based company’s data, the current holder of the largest Philly-proper exit title goes to Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, which in 2010 announced its acquisition by Lilly in a deal valued at up to $800 million.
Founded in 2013, Spark is a publicly traded spinout of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which invested $33 million in the company. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that CHOP stands to reap a total return of $430 million for its minority stake in Spark Therapeutics.
As part of the acquisition deal, the company will remain based out of 3711 Market St., and continue to do business as a standalone Roche company.
“This transaction demonstrates the enormous value that global biotech companies like Roche see in gene therapy, a field in which Philadelphia is the unquestioned leader,” said Saul Behar, senior VP of advancement and strategic initiatives at the University City Science Center, the West Philly research park where Spark began and grew its operations. “[This] further validates Greater Philadelphia’s status as a biotech hub with a very bright future.”
Spark CEO Jeff Marrazzo said the deep pool of resources from Roche, the company plans to “accelerate the development of more gene therapies for more patients for more diseases and further expedite our vision of a world where no life is limited by genetic disease.”
Other articles on Gene Therapy and Retinal Disease on this Open Access Online Journal include:
CALD Gene Therapy Granted “Breakthrough Therapy Designation”
LIVE – Afternoon Session added – Gene Therapy Development & Cell Therapy Bioprocessing – Overcoming Scientific and Development Challenges @Biotech Week Boston, October 5, 2016 Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
Women Leaders in Cell and Gene Therapy
AGTC (AGTC) , An adenoviral gene therapy startup, expands in Florida with help from $1 billion deal with Biogen
Artificial Vision: Cornell and Stanford Researchers crack Retinal Code
D-Eye: a smartphone-based retinal imaging system
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