Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) – the rare blood disorder characterized by premature destruction of red blood cells – found itself in the spotlight, as did shares of Omeros Corp. (NASDAQ:OMER), which closed Oct. 15 at $10.42, up $6.32, or 154%, on word of an asset purchase and license agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S for zaltenibart (formerly OMS-906).

Breaking up isn’t so hard to do, it seems. Just two years after spinning off its consumer products as Kenvue Inc., Johnson & Johnson aims to part ways with its orthopedics unit, which will take up the Depuy Synthes name first created when Synthes Inc. married into the J&J Depuy ortho unit in 2012 for a tidy sum of $19.7 billion. Depuy was itself acquired in 1998.

Private equity firm Keensight Capital acquired a majority stake in Bedfont Scientific Ltd. in a move that will allow the company to expand the use of its devices for breath analysis and monitoring worldwide. Although the value of the deal was undisclosed, Keensight typically invests in profitable companies generating revenues in the range of €10 million to €400 million.

Histosonics Inc. signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Gunze Medical Ltd. to bring its novel histotripsy-based therapeutic model, the Edison System, to Japan. The strategic alliance with Gunze Medical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Gunze Ltd., paves a figurative runway for Histosonics to introduce its Edison platform in Japan — one of Asia’s largest medical device markets.

In a deal that could top $2 billion, China-based Innocare Pharma Ltd. licensed the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to the BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib to Zenas Biopharma Inc. for multiple sclerosis and other indications aside from oncology.

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s near-term dilution should “pave the way for entrenchment” in the hereditary angioedema (HAE) space, thanks to the buyout of Astria Therapeutics Inc., RBC analyst Brian Abrahams said.

Nabla Bio Inc. has established a new multiyear research collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to advance AI-driven design of protein therapeutics.

Eight years after Novartis AG gained U.S. FDA approval of the first CAR T therapy, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, developers are advancing prospects that could significantly impact another disease space outside of cancer – autoimmunity. The efforts are getting a swirl of attention, with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) announcing Oct. 10 that it would offer $1.5 billion in cash to buy three-year-old privately held Orbital Therapeutics Inc., including its lead, next-generation CAR T-cell therapy OTX-201, which is designed to reprogram cells in vivo for autoimmune diseases.