The head of the German family-owned firm's venture fund tells Scrip that investing very early in promising start-ups gives Boehringer Ingelheim "a little bit of a head start" on rival pharma companies in identifying technologies that could translate into therapies five years down the line .

Biopharma financing for the second quarter totaled $12.4 billion, a 25% decrease from Q1 2018. Meanwhile Q2 merger and acquisition deal value reached $101 billion, three-quarters of which came from Takeda's $79 billion takeover of major European player Shire. Alliances – totaling $13.8 billion (a significant decline from the previous quarter's $30.7 billion) – featured large partnerships in the antibody space, the biotechnology industry sector with the highest dollar volume.

AZ’s MedImmune to use 4D’s AAV vector technology to deliver therapies for chronic lung disease, while Roivant spinout Dermavant licenses Phase III-ready autoimmune candidate tapinarof from GSK.