Roche to Buy Ignyta for $1.7b

Swiss drugmaker Roche will buy US cancer drug specialist Ignyta Inc. for $1.7 billion in an agreed deal to broaden its oncology portfolio, the firms said late Friday, Reuters reported. Roche would pay $27 per share for Ignyta, representing a premium of about 74% to the stock’s closing price on Thursday, they said. Reuters had reported on Thursday that Ignyta was in advanced talks to sell itself, just three years after going public with a focus on precision drugs and diagnostics. Ignyta will continue its operations in San Diego and will be responsible for the ongoing pivotal study of entrectinib, its most advanced drug. The US company has a suite of drugs in early-stage development that use gene therapy to kill off the underlying diseases that drive cancer tumor growth. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2018, the companies said.