Nurix Therapeutics Inc.’s Dec. 12 disclosure that the U.K. Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency granted to clearance for the company to kick off a phase I study with Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor NX-5948 pumped more juice into the space, which has been consistently intriguing since the first drug in the class was approved about eight years ago by the FDA. The San Francisco-based firm will start an experiment in patients with relapsed and refractory B-cell malignancies at clinical sites in the U.K., with dosing of the first subject expected in the first half of 2022.

The biopharmaceutical sector welcomed a further 11 new IPO graduates in July, bringing the number to 39 that have started to trade on the U.S. markets this year. The companies going public last month collectively raised more than $2.5 billion and most of them made a favorable impression following their first day of trading, with the group increasing their share values by an average of 16%.

Four IPOs from biopharmas chasing an aggregate $781.8 million launched on Friday with mixed results. Two of the companies, Inozyme Pharma Inc. and Annexon Inc., finished the day in positive territory while the other two, Iteos Therapeutics Inc. and Nurix Therapeutics Inc., saw their shares close flat.

Nurix Therapeutics Inc. landed its second big pharma collaboration in seven months when it signed with Sanofi SA to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of protein degradation therapies. In the Sanofi deal, Nurix receives $55 million up front and is eligible for up to about $2.5 billion in total payments based on achieved milestones. To start, Nurix will design small molecules to induce degradation in three specific targets while Sanofi has the option to up the ante to five targets. Sanofi receives exclusive rights and will handle clinical development and commercialization and Nurix retains the option to co-develop and co-co-promote up to two products in the U.S.