FINANCINGS

Adynxx Inc. raised $16 million in a series B round.

Ascentage Pharma Group has raised $72 million.

Corbin Therapeutics has been launched by Amorchem Holdings Inc. with a seed investment of $756,162 to focus on a new therapeutic approach to treat inflammation-based diseases via inhibition of the ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 15 enzyme.

Cavion Inc. closed a $26.1 million venture financing co-led by Lilly Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund.

Endoceutics Inc. said it entered a long-term $85 million senior credit facility with CRG LP.

Loxo Oncology Inc. closed its public offering for gross proceeds of $138 million.

Macrophage Pharma Ltd. has raised $10.9 million in a series A to commercialize a small-molecule immuno-oncology technology.

Mirati Therapeutics Inc. priced a public offering with gross proceeds expected to be about $65 million.

Oncoimmune Inc. closed a $15 million series A round of fundraising.

Siteone Therapeutics Inc. said it closed a $15 million series B round.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is leading a $125 million investment in Maverick Therapeutics Inc., a company that is working to improve the utility of T-cell redirection therapy for the treatment of cancer.

DEALS

Adaptive Biotechnologies and Amgen Inc. have agreed to advance the development and to commercialize Adaptive's next-generation sequencing-based clonoSEQ assay to assess minimal residual disease in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Allergan plc has entered a research, development, collaboration and license agreement for the worldwide rights to Assembly Biosciences Inc.'s microbiome gastrointestinal development programs.

Allergan plc purchased an exclusive option right to acquire Lysosomal Therapeutics Inc., whose lead program aims to stimulate the activity of glucocerebrosidase in the brain.

Anokion SA formed a global research collaboration with Celgene Switzerland LLC, an affiliate of Celgene Corp., to develop therapies for autoimmune diseases.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Genecentric Diagnostics Inc. announced a biomarker research collaboration.

Eli Lilly and Co. said it will expand an existing agreement with Merck & Co. Inc. to collaborate on immune-oncology products, through a subsidiary.

Enzyvant Sciences Ltd. inked an exclusive global license with Duke University to develop RVT-802, a tissue-based therapy to treat complete DiGeorge syndrome, a rare congenital immunodeficiency disease.

Genomics Medicine Ireland (GMI) Ltd., Abbvie Inc., and Wuxi Nextcode, have struck a 15-year alliance under which GMI plans to sequence 45,000 genomes in order to uncover new therapeutic targets and pathways relevant to oncology, neuroscience and immunology.

Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH is getting $30 million up front and could earn more than $1 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones from an immuno-oncology alliance with Amgen Inc. focused on developing two bispecific T-cell engager molecules that target intracellular tumor-associated peptide antigens.

Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp. is buying Derma Sciences Inc. for about $204 million.

Kite Pharma Inc. entered a strategic partnership with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. for axicabtagene ciloleucel in Japan. The therapy uses a patient's T cells engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor to target the antigen CD19.

Mast Therapeutics Inc. and Savara Inc. entered a definitive merger agreement, under which Savara's stockholders would become majority owners of Mast.

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. is selling its approved pancreatic cancer drug, Onivyde (liposomal irinotecan for injection), and its generic version of Doxil (liposomal doxorubicin hydrochloride for injection, Janssen Products LP) candidate to Ipsen SA in a potential $1 billion-plus deal.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. and CSL Ltd. have agreed to an exclusive research collaboration and global license to develop and commercialize Fc multimer proteins.

Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it would merge with and adopt the name of Achieve Life Science Inc. in an all-stock transaction.

Pfizer Inc. will partner with Pegbio Co. Ltd. to develop glucokinase activator drugs for China.

Pvp Biologics will work with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to fund and speed up the development of a new enzyme that can minimize the negative impact of gluten on celiac disease patients.

Sanofi SA and Immunext Inc. agreed to focus on the development of an antibody with potential to treat autoimmune diseases, including lupus and multiple sclerosis.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has agreed to acquire Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $5.2 billion, offering $24 per share, a 79 percent premium.

Viriom Inc. is collaborating with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to identify new drug candidates for treatment of Zika and other viral infections.

Vivus Inc. acquired from Selten Pharma Inc. exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize tacrolimus and ascomycin to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension and related vascular diseases.

. . . AND MORE

Abbvie Inc. gained approval in Australia for Venclexta (veneto-clax) to treat advanced forms of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Acucela Inc. said the FDA granted orphan drug designation to its leading drug candidate, emixustat hydrochloride, for the treatment of Stargardt disease.

Curevac AG's mRNA-based prostate cancer vaccine CV9104 failed to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival during a phase IIb trial.

European biotech firms engaged in drug development raised an aggregate $3.789 billion in equity funding during 2016, down almost 23 percent on the previous year's total of $4.913 billion.

Gilead Sciences Inc. said the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Vemlidy (tenofovir alafenamide, TAF) 25 mg, a once-daily tablet for chronic hepatitis B virus infection in adults and adolescents.

Pronai Therapeutics Inc. changed its corporate name to Sierra Oncology Inc. to reflect its evolution into an oncology-focused company advancing therapies that target the DNA damage response network.

Sangamo Biosciences Inc. changed its corporate name to Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. to reflect its focus on developing genomic therapies using its platform technologies.

Tesaro Inc. received an FDA complete response letter for the new drug application for intravenous rolapitant to prevent delayed nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of emetogenic cancer chemotherapy.