Dec. 16 Company Quick Takes: Greenlight for Roche-Spark deal; plus BMS, Gilead, BioMarin, FDA guidance

Roche cleared to complete Spark takeover
The planned merger of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) and Spark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCE) has at last been cleared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority. Both agencies had been reviewing whether the deal would negatively affect competition in the hemophilia A market. The FTC’s investigation into the deal lasted 10 months, forcing Roche to extend its offer for Spark several times. The proposed $4.8 billion merger was announced in February (“Spark Gives Roche Beachhead in Gene Therapy”).

BMS wins $752M in CAR T suit against Gilead
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) told BioCentury that a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that the Kite Pharma Inc. unit of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) and its CAR T therapy Yescarta axicabtagene ciloleucel willfully infringes on a patent licensed to the pharma’s Juno Therapeutics Inc. unit. The jury awarded BMS with $752 million. Juno’s patent covers the nucleic acids that encode a CAR T therapy...