Astel­las snags a gene ther­a­py up­start with $3B buy­out bid — in­spir­ing fore­casts of more M&A ahead

Astel­las has moved in to buy a biotech up­start with a new ap­proach to de­vel­op­ing a gene ther­a­py for Duchenne mus­cu­lar dy­s­tro­phy.

The Japan­ese phar­ma play­er has struck a deal to ac­quire Au­dentes $BOLD for about $3 bil­lion, or $60 a share — a 110% pre­mi­um over the $28.61 close on Mon­day. And Astel­las is sig­nal­ing its plans to add more gene ther­a­py deals around Au­dentes, which it is plug­ging in­to its glob­al re­search or­ga­ni­za­tion.

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