The demands of building new biotechs can take their toll, yet Alan Crane wears his 52 years and over two decades of high-risk biotech start-up investing lightly. He's built an exceptional number of companies during his tenure at Polaris, many of which have proved to be among the industry’s more successful emerging ventures.

Deal Snapshot: Ipsen committed up to $1.8bn in upfront and milestone fees to develop novel treatments for rare neurological diseases with Skyhawk’s RNA-targeting small molecule platform.

Private Company Edition: Regeneron launched a $500m venture fund and Canaan added $100m, bringing the venture firm’s recent total to $1bn-plus. Also, incubators plan to grow over the next decade and in recent financings Avenzo raised $150m and Nvelop launched with $100m.