BOSTON – Panelists at Biopharm America debated strategies for early stage financing as they weighed the importance of a prestigious board, the wisdom of small deals by startups with pharma firms, and the likelihood (or not) that angel investors will help make the case with other backers yet to come.

SEOUL – After a decade of steady increases, venture capital (VC) investments in South Korea's biotech sector are more active. But for the country's strategic financial plan to be sustainable, it will have to further strengthen its science capabilities, according to experts at the Korea Bio Investment Conference (KBIC) last week in Seoul.

LONDON – Drug discovery specialist Evotec SE has attracted €30 million (US$33.6 million) in venture capital funding for Breakpoint Therapeutics GmbH, a virtual spin-out formed to take forward programs in DNA damage response (DDR).