United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Roche Holding AG's planned acquisition of United States-based Spark Therapeutics to decide if the merger would result in a substantial lessening of competition. The CMA noted it has set a December 16 deadline to decide whether it will continue the probe.

In June, the UK watchdog first informed Roche it plans to investigate its plans to buy Spark for $4.3 billion. Roche noted in July that it extended its timeframe for the completion of the transaction until the end of April 2020.