DUBLIN – UK gene therapy firm Nightstarx Ltd. took in $35 million in a series B round to move its lead program in choroideremia into a pivotal trial next year and to move two other programs in inherited retinal diseases into the clinic by 2017.

MUNICH – As BIO-Europe drew to a close, the ongoing funding gap in Germany loomed large. Although European biotechnology looks set to have one of its best ever years for funding, Germany, as ever, is locked in a deep freeze, with little prospect of a thaw.

MUNICH – Some of those involved in making 2015 a standout year for licensing agreements and for M&A took to the stage at BIO-Europe Tuesday to offer their perspectives on the dealmaking environment they currently inhabit.

MUNICH – The value of up-front payments in global biopharma licensing agreements is still climbing, and global M&A spending on R&D-stage companies so far in 2015 is the best in more than a decade.

DUBLIN – Interna Technologies BV closed out its series A round with funding from two new co-lead investors, Inkef Capital and Aglaia Oncology, which takes the final tally to $10.5 million. That's enough cash to take the company's two lead micro-RNA (mi-RNA) programs up to investigational new drug (IND) filings in or around 2017.

DUBLIN – Turnstone Biologics Inc. raised $11.3 million in a series A round to take forward a novel oncolytic virus platform, based on a modified rhabdovirus strain that has strong immune-boosting properties as well as systemic oncolytic activity.

DUBLIN – Shares in Celyad SA rose almost 18 percent Friday on news of a U.S. patent grant covering the use of allogeneic cells in the development of therapies based on T cell receptor-deficient T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs).

DUBLIN – Novartis AG made three additions to its immuno-oncology portfolio Wednesday, further evidence of the non-stop deal-making ferment in what remains the pharmaceutical industry’s most lively area of drug development.

DUBLIN – Shire plc is betting that the outcome of a phase III trial of its dry eye treatment lifitegrast will be enough to get the drug over the line, following a complete response letter (CRL) issued by the FDA.

DUBLIN – Astrazeneca plc’s competitive efforts in type 2 diabetes, one of its key growth platforms, hit a setback when the FDA issued a complete response letter for its saxa/dapa combination of DPP-4 inhibitor saxagliptin and SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin.