Cancer deals involving Junshi/Wigen, Allist/Octimet, Yufan/Abound, Takeda/Presage, Daiichi Sankyo/AnHeart, LegoChem/Harbour Biomed, plus a stem cell partnership and a lysosomal storage disorder agreement.

Analysts called the interim data from a Phase II study of LY-CoV555 mixed, but Lilly insists that it has demonstrated a therapeutic role for neutralizing antibodies in fighting the novel coronavirus.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has seen a hectic pace of cancer deal-making, including the two largest biopharma M&A deals of the year and 23 with upfront value of at least $100m.

At EASL 2020, four partnerships updated RNA-interference or antisense efforts to reduce hep B surface antigen, believed to lead to functional cure of the virus. One analyst sees J&J/Arrowhead as the early leader.

Continuing parent firm Gilead’s busy deal-making year in immuno-oncology, Kite gets option rights to new targets. Boehringer teams with Israel’s BiomX in IBD research.

Deal Snapshot: Santhera acquires all rights to vamorolone from Idorsia, making it ReveraGen’s direct partner on the novel Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapy.