Poseida, Nkarta and Inventiva raised $224m, $252m and $107.7m, respectively. Also, Forbion raised €185m ($208m) of a new €250m fund and Blackstone closed the last $1.2bn of its $4.6bn fund for public and private company deals, and Ascendis led recent follow-ons with a $569.2m offering.

Some analysts see a 50-50 chance of US FDA approval despite the controversial dataset for the anti-amyloid antibody, but at least one expects an eventual CRL requesting a third Phase III trial.

A Phase I study for allogeneic therapy UCARTCS1A was put on clinical hold after a patient died. High dosing and double exposure to cyclophosphamide pre-conditioning may have played a role. 

After accelerated approval in the US in April based on Phase II response rates, the company will seek full approval later this year based on a tripling of progression-free survival in a Phase III trial.

Public Company Edition: Drug developers continue to take advantage of investors’ preference for biotechnology investments, with CRISPR, Acceleron and BioNTech raising massive sums. The wealth isn’t spreading to everyone, however, as DBV Technologies is restructuring and cutting jobs. 

Private Company Edition: BioGeneration closed a €105m ($119m) fund to continue backing new European companies, while Samsara BioCapital, Evotec and KCK Ltd. launched the virtual incubator Autobahn Labs. Also, Poseida, Annexon and Goldfinch close $100m-plus VC rounds.