Orsobio Inc., already in the clinic with three candidates, has completed its $60 million series A financing. The company, CEO Mani Subramanian told BioWorld, has taken its time to find the right programs, put them together and only raised capital when it saw the programs had legs. Even the series A is a measured step, as Subramanian called the financing “modest.”

The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index (BBI) fell through October, ending the month up just 0.98%. It remains above its low point of the year, when it was down 3.65% at the end of February.

Gilead Sciences Inc. and Assembly Biosciences Inc. have entered into a 12-year partnership to advance the research and development of novel antiviral therapies, with an initial focus on Assembly’s established areas of herpesviruses, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis D virus (HDV).

What CEO Jason Okazaki called Assembly Biosciences Inc.’s “monumental” deal for new antivirals with Gilead Sciences Inc. brings $100 million right away, consisting of an $84.8 million up-front payment and a $15.2 million equity investment. Wall Street liked it, and shares of South San Francisco-based Assembly (NASDAQ:ASMB) closed Oct. 17 at $1.25, up 52 cents or 72%, on word of the 12-year arrangement. Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) ended at $80.48, up $1.28.

Biopharma companies and industry advocates received the message the U.S. FTC intended to send when it broke new antitrust ground earlier this year in challenging Amgen Inc.’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc. Now they’re uniting to send a message of their own – in the guise of an awareness campaign showing that the FTC’s new approach to M&A reviews and antitrust enforcement will undermine the ecosystem responsible for innovative and important therapies the world over.