While Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. waits for the FDA's decision on its DMD candidate, eteplirsen, Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC is quickening its pace in the race to approval in the field.

Five-year-old Leap Therapeutics Inc. stands to become a public company as the surviving entity in its merger with the Israeli biopharma, Macrocure Ltd., which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. Leap, of Cambridge, Mass., was founded in 2011 and raised $30.5 million the same year in a round led by Healthcare Ventures and its funds, according to SEC filings. Earlier this year, Healthcare Ventures was said to have combined its portfolio companies Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. and GITR Inc. into Leap.

Biothera Pharmaceuticals Inc. is hardly a traditional biopharma newco. The company’s core beta glucan immunomodulator technology, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was picked up following the 1999 liquidation of Alpha-Beta Technology Inc., which had sought to advance the platform to treat bacterial infections.

Novan Inc. added its name to the IPO queue, revealing in an S-1 filing that it will seek to raise up to $60 million to advance its nitric oxide (NO) platform and programs in five dermatological conditions. The company plans to grant underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional shares. Novan did not disclose the number of shares or price in its paperwork.

The disclosure that Sanofi SA was required by the FDA to submit additional information on the pen delivery device for Iglarlixi as part of the agency's review of the new drug application (NDA) challenges once more the use of an FDA priority review voucher (PRV) for strictly commercial purposes.

The first half of 2016 is in the books, and while the biopharma sector's financial results weren't exactly a slam dunk, they did at least keep investors in the paint. As evidence of that, beginning with the closing bell on July 27, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has finished above 3,000 for the longest consecutive run since December 2015.

Acne isn't the world's sexiest indication, especially in the context of the hundreds of deadly diseases that ravage the human body. Still, it's the most prevalent skin condition in the U.S., estimated by the American Academy of Dermatology to affect some 50 million individuals, with severe forms covering large areas of the body and sometimes resulting in permanent scarring.

Three-year-old Rasna Therapeutics Inc. took the reverse merger route to the public markets, joining with Canadian travel company Active With Me Inc. to gain a listing on the Over-the-Counter Pink market, where it will continue to trade, for now, under the ticker ATVM.