Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Friday it had agreed to purchase privately-held Trophos to gain access to an experimental drug to treat a debilitating genetic neuromuscular disease.The acquisition is the latest in a spate of deals by Roche as it uses its cash pile to expand its portfolio of medicines and invests in genomic data and tools to help in drug discovery and development.So far this week Roche has paid $1 billion for a stake in Foundation Medicine, signed a licensing deal for an antibiotic boosting drug for up to $750 million and partnered with Genome pioneer J. Craig Venter.Under the terms of the agreement with Trophos, the French firm's shareholders will receive an upfront payment of 120 million euros ($140 million), plus further payments based on certain predetermined milestones worth up to 350 million euros.
Foundation Medicine, Inc. is a commercial-stage company. Shares of FMI fell by 4.18% or $-2.08/share to $47.68. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $18.25 and as high as $54.28. On average, 435424 shares of FMI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 317942.
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