The Swiss major gets around 3,000 proposals per year and has assembled a 120-strong team to sift through them and access the best science out there. Global head of pharma partnering James Sabry tells Scrip what Roche is looking for in a partner.

Vertex and CRISPR look beyond beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Also, Bicycle gets $50m up front in Novartis deal, Regeneron commits $75m initially under a Treg collaboration with Sonoma, and Jounce gets a better deal from Concentra to wave off Redx merger.

Pink Sheet reporter and editors discuss Moderna CEO’s Stéphane Bancel’s defense of his company and COVID-19 vaccine pricing at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the NIH denying a petition to use government march-in rights for Xtandi, and Tofersen receiving a positive US FDA advisory committee recommendation for use in ALS.

Moderna’s time in the hot seat of the US drug pricing debate went about as well as it could for the company. The firm astutely set a tone of an All-American success story – but the hearing also showcased other ‘only in America’ themes.