Accession Therapeutics Ltd. has raised £16.6 million (US$20.3 million) in a series A round, as it prepares to take two targeted oncolytic/payload combination viruses into the clinic. At the same time, the company disclosed that the scientist who devised the tumor-only targeting mechanism is Alan Parker, professor of translational virotherapies at Cardiff University.

Sonothera Inc. reeled in $60.75 million in a series A financing led by Arch Venture Partners. The funds are earmarked for the continued development of Sonothera’s ultrasound-guided, nonviral, gene therapy platform and treatments.

Structural heart startup Nyra Medical Inc. scooped up $20 million in a series A round co-led by Vensana Capital and a large, unnamed global medical device company. The funds will be used to advance Nyra’s transcatheter heart valve repair technology through early feasibility clinical studies.

When the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shut down travel and conferences starting in the first part of 2020, the general lament was that the lack of face-to-face interaction would hamper biopharma companies’ ability to secure deals and investments. Instead, the opposite happened. Now, coming off two years of record-breaking financing, the biopharma sector is facing an inevitable correction, though a handful of venture capital panelists suggested there’s room for optimism.