Aytu BioScience Inc., of Englewood, Colo., said it entered into definitive agreements with institutional investors Altium Capital and Armistice Capital for the purchase and sale in a private placement of $10 million of series F convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock.

Even priced at a bottom-of-range $20, shares of Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR) fell 30% to $14.02 in the first day of trading after the infectious disease specialist priced a $142.9 million IPO, intended to back its development of medicines targeting hepatitis B virus, influenza A, HIV and tuberculosis. The company, led by former Biogen Inc. CEO George Scangos, is largely owned by Arch Venture Partners and Softbank's Vision Fund.

Medicenna Therapeutics Corp., of Toronto, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, said it filed a short form prospectus, which has been received by the regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, in connection with the marketed offering of units. 

HONG KONG – Upin & Co. Ltd., a fund and asset management company headquartered in London, plans to invest a total of KRW2 trillion (US$1.7 billion) over three years in the South Korean biopharma industry. The U.K. company will use a European fund and human resources network to organize the K-Bio Medical Development Fund (KBMDF), which will include funds of KRW300 billion for the first round, KRW700 billion for the second, and KRW1 trillion for the third round.

Nicox SA, of Sophia Antipolis, France, which is developing a nitric oxide-donating platform, said it amended its bond financing agreement with Kreos Capital and has drawn down an additional €4 million (US$4.4 million) of debt under the bond financing.

Cygnal Therapeutics Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup devoted to developing new cancer and immunotherapy drugs, has raised $65 million from Flagship Pioneering to advance research in a field it is calling "exoneural biology" in an effort to deliver relief via the peripheral nervous system. The company is led by Pearl Huang, a veteran of Roche Holding AG and Glaxosmithkline plc. Calling exoneural biology "a new way to look at something that has always been there," she said Cygnal's platform has uncovered "new drivers of disease that are both profound and actionable."

In the third quarter, global biopharmaceutical companies collectively raised more than $12 billion from public and private transactions. Year to date (YTD), the sector has generated $41.5 billion, according to BioWorld data, putting it on track for a $55 billion haul for the year. 

Heading into the final quarter, the sector's leading biopharmaceutical companies once again underperformed the general market in September. Overall, the third quarter was extremely lackluster with investors showing little interest in getting involved, a situation that is likely to prevail until the end of the year. Companies will need to release strong 3Q financial reports just to tread water in the coming months. 

In the third quarter, global biopharmaceutical companies collectively raised more than $12 billion from public and private transactions. Year to date (YTD), the sector has generated $41.5 billion, according to BioWorld data, putting it on track for a $55 billion haul for the year.