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The bidding war for Spark Therapeutics

Roche bought Spark for almost $5 billion. Photo courtesy of Spark Therapeutics

A new financial filing from Spark Therapeutics reveals that Roche low-balled its first offer to buy Spark for $70 a share, and then outbid three other pharmaceutical companies over several months before Spark agreed to Roche's offer of $114.50 per share — 64% higher than the original that resulted in the nearly $5 billion deal.

Between the lines: Spark's work centers around gene therapy, where mutated genes are replaced with new ones, and the filing shows its hemophilia research was the crown jewel that had everyone interested.

Go deeper

Fadel Allassan
42 mins ago - World

Putin foe Navalny to be detained for 30 days after returning to Moscow

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Photo: Oleg Nikishin/Epsilon/Getty Images

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been ordered to remain in pre-trial detention for 30 days, following his arrest upon returning to Russia on Sunday for the first time since a failed assassination attempt last year.

Why it matters: The detention of Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and the most prominent domestic critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has already set off a chorus of condemnations from leaders in Europe and the U.S.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Axios
2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Biden picks Warren allies to lead SEC, CFPB

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden has selected FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Obama-era Wall Street regulator Gary Gensler to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Why it matters: Both picks are progressive allies of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and viewed as likely to take aggressive steps to regulate big business.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Ashley Gold, Sara Fischer, Kyle Daly
2 hours ago - Technology

The perils of organizing underground

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Researchers see one bright spot as far-right extremists turn to private and encrypted online platforms: Friction.

Between the lines: For fringe organizers, those platforms may provide more security than open social networks, but they make it harder to recruit new members.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow