Swiss healthcare giant Novartis has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to acquire British biotech company Gyroscope Therapeutics. This acquisition will help the former to expand its offerings to include gene therapies for the eyes. Syncona, Gyroscope’s parent company, found their shares rising by 12.2%

For the deal, Novartis will pay an upfront payment of $800. Scope for further payment of an additional $700 million is possible if Gyroscope fulfils certain milestones. Novartis gets access to Gyroscope's gene therapy for geographic atrophy.

Novartis has been acquiring startups that have the technology to restore vision by gene therapies. Earlier this year, it acquired Arctos Medical and the year before that Vedere Bio Inc. for $280 million.

In recent years, gene therapy has garnered much attention. Pfizer is conducting experiments with gene therapy for a rare neuromuscular disease. One of the problems limiting this field is its high price tag. 

Gene therapies are currently among the world's most expensive drugs. Another drawback of this area is the lack of a safety net. Pfizer had to pull a stop to their experiments due to the deaths of young study subjects.