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Novartis is acquiring AveXis for $8.7 billion to strengthen its gene therapy unit, adding a promising but still experimental treatment targeting a fatal childhood disease.

AveXis, a small biotech based in a north Chicago suburb, is being purchased for $218 per share, or an 88 percent premium to Friday’s closing stock price, Novartis said.

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The deal is Novartis’ second foray into gene therapy this year. In January, Novartis purchased ex-U.S. marketing rights to an approved one-time treatment for a form of childhood blindness from Spark Therapeutics.

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