If there are three takeaways from this year’s dealmaking efforts, they appear to be record-setting partnerships, lackluster M&As, and massive amounts of research funding via the U.S. government.

The whopper deal between Biogen Inc. and Sage Therapeutics Inc. – a global collaboration and licensing deal involving the latter’s zuranolone (also known as SAGE-217) for major depressive disorder (MDD), postpartum depression (PPD) and other psychiatric disorders, as well as SAGE-324 for essential tremor (ET) and neurological disorders – drew mixed reviews from Wall Street. And, for Biogen investors, the would-be Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapy aducanumab remains front of mind.

New artificial intelligence capabilities will be integrated into widely used genomic testing for breast cancer under a new partnership formed by Agendia Inc. and Paige.ai. The two companies are working together to enhance the genomic information from Agendia's Mammaprint and Blueprint diagnostic tests with AI-based digital diagnostics provided by Paige with the goal of redefining precision oncology.

HONG KONG – Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an exclusive license agreement with Lung Therapeutics Inc., picking up the Japanese rights to Lung Tx’s LTI-01.

HONG KONG – Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio has landed a commitment of up to $70 million in non-dilutive capital from a new collaboration with Pfizer Inc., just weeks raising $310 million in an oversubscribed crossover financing round.

PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. inked an exclusive global licensing deal with Novartis AG for the development, manufacture and commercialization of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell product remestemcel-L, with an initial focus on the acute respiratory distress syndrome, including that associated with COVID-19, just six weeks after the FDA issued a complete response letter for the therapy as a treatment for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.

Precision Biosciences Inc. CEO Matthew Kane said the company is in “active discussions around additional partnerships in vivo and in other areas across our organization,” after scoring a deal with Eli Lilly and Co. centered on the firm’s Arcus genome-editing platform. “There’s no conceivable way in the near term that we’re going to advance all of the possibilities of Arcus on our own,” he said.

Still not there yet, but close. Biopharma projected deal values are currently at $159.4 billion, just shy of the 2019 record of $160.3 billion. With about six weeks left in the year, it is highly likely that 2020 will come out on top.