DUBLIN – Compass Pathways Ltd. raised $80 million in a series B round to continue its development of the psychedelic drug psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression.

BEIJING – China, Yantai-based biologics maker Remegen Ltd. has raised about $100 million in a private round led by Lilly Asia Ventures and Lake Bleu Capital.

BEIJING – China, Yantai-based biologics maker Remegen Ltd. has raised about $100 million in a private round led by Lilly Asia Ventures and Lake Bleu Capital to advance its autoimmune, oncology and ophthalmology drug candidates, especially its NDA-stage RC-18 (telitacicept) for system lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Although public offerings slowed considerably in March as a result of the steepest stock market declines in history during that period, global biopharmaceutical companies managed to collectively generate just over $16 billion in the first quarter from a record number public and private transactions. Only the first quarter of 2018 saw more cash raised in the past decade, according to BioWorld data.

DUBLIN – Versant Ventures was one of a handful of investors to profit from Passage Bio Inc.’s recent upsized IPO. The Philadelphia-based gene therapy firm planned to raise $125 million initially but eventually hauled in $216 million by issuing 12 million shares, which it priced at $18 per share on Feb. 27. The IPO price valued Versant’s holding at $89 million. As well as participating in the IPO – the actual amount involved has not been disclosed – it invested $35 million across three private rounds, between September 2018 and August 2019, according to SEC filings.

Med-tech companies brought in more money than each of the last two years in every type of financing, aside from private placements, with about 11% of the funds flowing into digital health companies. In total, the industry raised $40.67 billion, an increase of 98% over 2018, which logged $20.6 billion and was more in line with the $19.4 billion raised in 2017.