Johnson & Johnson (J&J) placed its trust in the future of Centyrin technology into familiar hands at Aro Biotherapeutics Co., a startup co-founded by two former J&J executives, including the co-inventor on the Centyrin patents.

Revance Therapeutics Inc. has never made a secret of its goal to build a better Botox. The Newark, Calif.-based company is making swift progress to reach that target as it prepares to file a BLA for lead program RT-002, an injectable formulation of daxibotulinumtoxinA, in moderate to severe glabellar lines after moving RT-002 into a pivotal phase III to treat cervical dystonia.

Asana Biosciences LLC was the first to move a dual Janus kinase (JAK) and spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor into the clinic in moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. The company has been rewarded for the effort with an FDA fast track designation for lead candidate ASN-002, which is under investigation in the phase IIb RADIANT (Relief from Atopic DermatitIs with JAK and SYK INhibiTion) study. Asana also is evaluating ASN-002 in a phase II study in individuals with severe chronic hand eczema.

Diamedica Therapeutics Inc., a phase II biopharma targeting acute ischemic stroke and chronic kidney disease, completed its micro-IPO, raising $16.4 million by offering 4.1 million shares at $4, the low end of its proposed range. Synthorx Inc. went bigger, hauling in $131 million by offering 11.9 million shares at $11, the midpoint of its proposed $10 to $12 range.

Despite a handful of last-minute lawsuits seeking to halt the proceedings, shareholders of Ovascience Inc. gave their endorsement Dec. 4 to the reverse merger with Millendo Therapeutics Inc. Shares of the combined company, operating under the Millendo name, are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market Monday under the ticker MLND.

Four years out from opening its doors, Xylocor Therapeutics Inc. closed a $17 million series A as it prepared to move lead candidate XC-001, a cardiovascular angiogenic gene therapy, into phase I in individuals with refractory angina who have no other treatment options. The round was co-led by Sofinnova Ventures and LSP (Life Sciences Partners).

Revance Therapeutics Inc. has never made a secret of its goal to build a better Botox. The Newark, Calif.-based company is making swift progress to reach that target as it prepares to file a BLA for lead program RT-002, an injectable formulation of daxibotulinumtoxinA, in moderate to severe glabellar lines after moving RT-002 into a pivotal phase III to treat cervical dystonia.

With Zejula (niraparib) well on its way to blockbuster status, Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) paid a premium for the opportunity to pick up developer Tesaro Inc. in a deal valued at approximately $5.1 billion. But while Tesaro shares (NASDAQ:TSRO) spiked nearly to the proposed price of $75 per share – a 62 percent premium to Friday's closing price of $46.38 and a 110 percent premium to Tesaro's 30-day volume-weighted average price of $35.67 – GSK investors gave the transaction a chilly reception, pushing the stock (NYSE:GSK) down 7.8 percent to close at $38.61 for a loss of $3.26.

As participants descended on San Diego for the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, Fate Therapeutics Inc. prefaced its presentations with the disclosure that the FDA authorized its IND for FT-500, a universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell product candidate derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line. FT-500 is expected to be the first iPSC-derived cell product to move into the clinic in the U.S., and prospects for manufacturing from a single master pluripotent cell line "could revolutionize cell therapy," wrote Piper Jaffray's Edward Tenthoff in a hot comment.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc. turned the commercial corner with FDA approval, on its PDUFA date, of Firdapse (amifampridine phosphate) 10-mg tablets as the first drug designated in the U.S. to treat adults with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS).