Amid the risk of a debt default due to a shortage of capital, bluebird bio has decided to quit the public markets and go private, with private equity firms Carlyle and SK Capital Partners acquiring it, despite growth in sales of its gene therapy products.
Bluebird Nests In Private Equity As Capital Position Goes South
The gene therapy-focused biotech has entered into a deal for private equity firms Carlyle and SK Capital to acquire it amid a shortage of capital and regulatory setback.

More from Gene Therapies
The company closed a $150m series C funding round shortly after opening the second part of its Phase I/II study of ATSN-201 and partnering with a Nippon Shinyaku on ATSN-101.
The promise of innovative therapies seems to have been constrained not by efficacy or safety concerns, but because the high price of treatments is incongruous with the reimbursement of short-course therapies.
The founder and CEO of Ultragenyx talked with Scrip as the company approaches a pivotal data readout and awaits US FDA action on its first gene therapy.
Encouraging results in younger children with Duchenne is keeping Regenxbio on track for a potential mid-2026 filing for its gene therapy, RGX-202.
More from Business
The German firm’s chairman, Hubertus von Baumbach, is adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the threat of pharma tariffs.
Trump announced a 26% reciprocal tariff on India but a country-agnostic exemption of pharmaceuticals implies that the interests of Indian firms and the US consumer are protected for now. What is Indian pharma’s business exposure and what is domestic industry saying?
Industry lobbied for pharmaceuticals to be exempt from Trump’s sweeping US tariffs and the effort appears to have paid off. J&J, Lilly and Merck & Co. even got shout outs.