Financings

Acer Therapeutics Inc. closed its public offering for gross proceeds of $11 million.

Aptinyx Inc. has completed a $70 million series B financing.

Aura Biosciences Inc. closed a $30 million series C financing.

Blueprint Medicines Corp. closed its public offering for estimated net proceeds of about $325.5 million.

Fate Therapeutics Inc. closed its public offering for net proceeds of about $42.9 million.

Flagship Pioneering said it secured $618 million in a new round of capital commitments.

Flx Bio Inc. completed a $60 million series C financing round.

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. priced its public offering of common stock for gross proceeds of about $100 million.

Jnana Therapeutics Inc. has raised $50 million from a series A financing round.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it priced an underwritten registered public offering with gross proceeds expected to be approximately $125 million.

Nuritas said it closed a $20 million series A funding round led by Chicago-based Cultivian Sandbox Ventures.

Orchard Therapeutics Ltd. raised £85 million (US$113.5 million) from a series B round.

Taris Biomedical LLC said it raised $25 million from a series B financing round.

Tessa Therapeutics Pte. Ltd. said it completed an $80 million financing round.

Verastem Inc. priced its public offering of about $25 million.

Deals

Astrazeneca plc and Imperial College London have entered a new research collaboration in respiratory disease, which will see their scientists working together to investigate basic scientific mechanisms and underlying drivers of conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Biogen Inc. and Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. have entered a collaboration agreement to identify new antisense oligonucleotide drug candidates for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.

Biomx Ltd. has acquired Rondinx Ltd. in a deal designed to strengthen its bacterial target discovery capabilities and support its therapeutic pipeline.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has agreed to pay up €627.5 million (US$741.3 million) to buy Autifony Therapeutics Ltd.'s lead program, AUT-00206, and the associated ion channel modulation technology through which the compound was discovered.

Confo Therapeutics NV entered a research collaboration and license agreement with Roche Holding AG for the discovery, development and commercialization of small-molecule agonists of an undisclosed G protein-coupled receptor for the treatment of neurological and developmental disorders.

ISA Pharmaceuticals BV could earn well in excess of $500 million from a strategic collaboration in immuno-oncology with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., which marries its peptide-based therapeutic cancer vaccine, ISA-101, with Regeneron's PD-1 inhibitor, cemiplimab (REGN-2810).

Millendo Therapeutics Inc. has acquired Alizé Pharma SAS in a stock-based transaction.

Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. entered a license agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for the development and commercialization of its compound, ONO-4578, a selective antagonist of EP4, a prostaglandin E2 receptor.

Orchard Therapeutics Ltd. formed a strategic alliance with Généthon to develop gene therapy for X-linked chronic granulomatous disease.

Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and X-Chem Inc. established a collaborative research agreement to discover new drug candidates.

Sensorion SA is teaming up with Cochlear Ltd. to explore the potential for combining drug therapy with cochlear implant surgery to improve patient outcomes.

Zealand Pharma A/S and Beta Bionics Inc. expanded their collaboration on developing Ilet, a dual-hormone bionic pancreas using both dasiglucagon, a liquid formulation glucagon analogue, and insulin.

. . . And More

Aclaris Therapeutics Inc. said the FDA approved Eskata (hydrogen peroxide) topical solution, 40 percent, for the treatment of raised seborrheic keratoses, or SKs, noncancerous skin growths.

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. received marketing approval for Macrilen (macimorelin), an orally available ghrelin agonist, for the diagnosis of patients with adult growth hormone deficiency.

Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. received FDA approval of Rhopressa (netarsudil) for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. formed Actus Therapeutics Inc., a special purpose entity to pursue therapies for rare genetic diseases, beginning with Pompe disease.

Avillion LLP said the FDA approved a supplemental new drug application for Pfizer Inc.'s Bosulif (bosutinib), which expands its indication to include the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed chronic phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Cellprotect Nordic Pharmaceuticals AB said its cell therapy candidate, Cellprotect, has received EMA orphan drug status for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Exelixis Inc. said the FDA approved Cabometyx (cabozantinib) tablets for the expanded indication of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has revised its IPO rules to allow not-yet-profitable biotech companies to go public in the city. That is likely to revive the biotechnology sector in Hong Kong's stock market, which hasn't attracted much interest in the past decade.

Spark Therapeutics Inc. received FDA approval for Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), which became the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets an inherited disease, caused by mutations in a specific gene.

The EMA's Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) closed out 2017 approving 30 new non-orphan drugs, 19 orphan drugs, 14 biosimilars and 29 products approved under the generic, hybrid or informed consent pathways.

Tigenix NV got the EMA nod for the first allogeneic adipose-derived stem cell therapy, Alofisel (Cx601, darvadstrocel), in the treatment of complex anal fistulas caused by Crohn's disease.