Spark Therapeutics is laying off 337 people, more than half its workforce, starting in May
The layoffs at the gene therapy company are part of restructuring of Spark Therapeutics by its owner, Roche Group.
Spark Therapeutics, a gene therapy pioneer based in Philadelphia’s University City, is laying off 337 employees, more than half its workforce, as part of a restructuring by its owner, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Group, Spark said Thursday.
Another 310 Spark employees will be integrated into Roche and remain in Philadelphia, Spark spokesperson Denise Bradly said in an email. Roche announced the restructuring Jan. 30.
The dramatic downsizing of Spark followed Roche’s nearly complete write-down of the $4.8 billion it paid for Spark in 2019.
A Spark gene therapy candidate for hemophilia A, known as SPK-8011, was the financial and clinical centerpiece of that deal. Roche ended the development work on it last year as the company rethinks its approach to the blood disease.
The layoffs will start next month, with additional rounds scheduled for July and December, Spark told Pennsylvania regulators. In its annual financial report, Roche said its restructuring costs at Spark are expected to top $300 million this year.
Spark employed 800 when it announced plans in 2021 to spend $575 million on a 500,000-square-foot Gene Therapy Innovation Center at 30th and Chestnut Streets in University City. Construction is underway, and the laboratory and manufacturing facility is expected to open next year.
Bradley said that Spark would continue to be based in Philadelphia and that plans for the innovation center had not changed.
Spark was based on research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Its breakthrough gene therapy, Luxturna, initially cost $450,000 per eye. It was the first gene therapy approved by the FDA for a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene, a milestone that played a key part in elevating Philadelphia as a biotech hub.
But its sales history fits the industry pattern of disappointing revenue. Roche wrote down the balance-sheet value of Luxturna for three straight years through 2022, when Luxturna sales were just shy of $50 million.