The French biotech's CEO tells Scrip the firm now has the time and resources to sign up a big pharma partner for its ulcerative colitis, RA and Crohn’s candidate.

Astellas adds a large-market drug candidate to its regenerative medicine portfolio, while Frequency Therapeutics almost doubles its fundraising to date. It traded ex-US rights to hearing loss candidate FX-322 for $80m up front and up to $545m in milestone fees plus royalties.

Chinese venture funding to the US biotech sector has fallen by nearly 60% in the latest sign of cooling in the previously booming bilateral life sciences investment sector.

More Indian companies are headed to China, with Cipla the latest to seal a joint venture there, though the firm has previous links with the country. Respiratory products will lead Cipla’s line-up in China, a market seen as a crucial cog in the firm’s future road map.

Skyhawk continues its recent spate of deal-making, using its SkyStar platform in a deal with Genentech, which also is looking into neurology with Convelo. AbbVie buys STING specialist Mavupharma, while Recordati pays Novartis $390m for Cushing’s products.

A 6% negative pricing impact in the US and generic Zytiga were headwinds for Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical business in the second quarter.

Shares of Korea's Medytox fell on suspicions that it supplied botulinum toxin to local hospitals before the product's approval in 2006. The concerns add to other manufacturing issues that have been denied by the company, which pointed to a rival as the possible source amid an ongoing legal battle over the strain used in the product.

Biopharma companies are reluctant to rely on real-world evidence trials, but while uncertainty remains about how these novel studies will be accepted, US and other regulators are encouraging drug developers to take a chance – and some have taken on the challenge.

Viren Mehta of Mehta Partners LLC mulls the potential of blockchain, the rapidly evolving IT resource that secures every step in a business action.

Japanese firms unveil pivotal top-line results that pave way for first filing of novel anemia therapy within new class of agents, but competition is high and timings remain unclear.

Although only interim data from six treated patients, Capricor’s Phase II DMD study shows improvements in upper limb performance, grip strength and respiration. Cardiac performance shows positive trend, but not yet statistical significance.

Having signed a major alliance expansion with Gilead, Onno van Stolpe tells Scrip that any takeover talk about Galapagos would be "unacceptable and unwanted."