Financings

Akero Therapeutics Inc. said it closed on $70 million in a series B round.

Bellus Health Inc. priced an overnight marketed equity offering of $35 million of common shares at 95 cents each.

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. priced its underwritten public offering, with gross proceeds expected to be $125 million.

Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc. raised $20 million in a series A round.

Checkmate Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it completed a $22 million financing.

Diamedica Therapeutics Inc. completed its micro-IPO, raising $16.4 million by offering 4.1 million shares at $4, the low end of its proposed range.

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. said it priced its underwritten public offering of common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $150 million.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced an underwritten public offering with the total offering size expected to be $45 million.

Moderna Inc. priced its IPO at the midpoint of its proposed range of $22 to $24 and upsized by approximately 20 percent to offer 26.3 million shares at $23 each for $604 million, becoming the biggest U.S. biopharma IPO ever and fourth largest in the world.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed its underwritten public offering for total gross proceeds of approximately $230 million.

Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced an underwritten public offering for expected gross proceeds of approximately $130 million.

Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. plans to raise HK$3.021.6 billion (US$386.7 million) from an IPO.

Synthorx Inc. said it closed its IPO for aggregate gross proceeds of $150.7 million.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. closed its underwritten public offering for total gross proceeds of approximately $15 million.

VBI Vaccines Inc. priced its underwritten public offering with gross proceeds expected to be approximately $37.5 million.

Deals

AC Immune SA signed a license agreement with Eli Lilly and Co. covering its preclinical portfolio of small-molecule tau aggregation inhibitors. It will receive CHF80 million (US$80.6 million) up front, CHF50 million from a loan-to-equity instrument and CHF60 million in near-term milestones. It could also earn up to CHF1.7 billion more for milestones.

Amag Pharmaceuticals Inc. is acquiring anticoagulant reversal agent developer Perosphere Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $50 million up front and up to $365 million in potential milestone payments.

Astrazeneca plc has formed functional genomics collaborations with Cancer Research UK and the Sanger gene sequencing center to apply CRISPR gene editing to target discovery and validation.

Aveo Oncology Inc. and Astrazeneca plc are collaborating to test Astrazeneca's PD-L1 drug, Imfinzi (durvalumab), with Aveo's VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Fotivda (tivozanib), in first-line hepatocellular carcinoma.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Vedanta Biosciences Inc. are collaborating to test BMS' Opdivo (nivolumab), with Vedanta's VE-800, a rationally defined human bacterial consortium, in patients with advanced or metastatic cancers.

Bryologyx Inc. acquired exclusive rights for synthetic bryostatin-1 and a range of bryostatin analogues from Stanford University.

Dragonfly Therapeutics Inc. licensed two Trinket immunotherapy drug candidates to Celgene Corp. for $12 million each plus milestones and royalties.

Follicum AB is collaborating with the Centre for Skin Sciences at University of Bradford, U.K., to study its peptide candidates for skin/hair treatments and diabetes.

Hitgen Ltd. is collaborating with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. to use Hitgen's libraries of DNA-encoded compounds to find small-molecule leads for targets of interest.

Meiragtx Holdings plc completed an all-stock-based acquisition of Vector Neurosciences Inc.

Ovascience Inc. is reverse merging with Millendo Therapeutics Inc. and the combined company, operating under the Millendo name, will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker MLND.

Roche Holding AG is collaborating with Merck & Co. Inc. to develop a companion diagnostic test to identify patients eligible for anti-PD-1 therapy based on the status of a biomarker in advanced solid tumors.

Schrödinger LLC and the TB Alliance entered a three-year research collaboration to speed the development of next-generation tuberculosis treatments by leveraging Schrödinger's advanced computational platform for drug discovery.

Sunshine Biopharma Inc. signed an agreement with Crocus Laboratories Inc. for assistance in the manufacture of Adva-27a, its lead compound targeted for pancreatic cancer.

. . . And More

Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. said it was halting development of rAAV2tYF-CB-hRS1, its adeno-associated virus-based RS1 gene therapy for X-linked retinoschisis, after top-line interim data from its phase I/II trial showed no sign of clinical activity at six months.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. is terminating its licensing agreement with Optinose Inc. to sell Onzetra Xsail (sumatriptan nasal powder) in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Chinese drugmakers' stocks hit their worst slump since 2008 earlier this month on reports of a government pilot program aimed at lowering generic drug prices.

France Biotech's 2018 annual survey shows the sector powering ahead on the back of the country's strong science base and a marked increase in the availability of capital.

Macrogenics Inc. received a partial clinical hold from the FDA on a phase I test of the company's bispecific antibody candidate, MGD-009.

The Indian biosimilars industry is poised to hit the $40 billion sales mark by 2030, according to a new industry analysis report.