Astellas takes $540M impairment charge over Audentes' gene therapy trial hold

Astellas paid $3 billion to snap up biotech Audentes Therapeutics in 2019 but is still paying for the biotech more than a year down the line.

In a financial notice posted today, the Japanese pharma said it was taking an impairment loss of ¥58.8 billion ($540 million) because of last year’s FDA clinical hold on Audentes’ leading hope AT132, a gene therapy for the rare disorder known as X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM).