Public Company Edition: Four health care special purpose acquisition vehicles went public and two others announced mergers, but only one biopharma firm priced an IPO during the week of 19-23 October. Replimune’s $250m offering led recent FOPOs.

Ultragenyx enters a competitive and complicated market, but the combination of its manufacturing platform with Solid’s transgene could provide an advantage. 

The rare disease-focused firm will pay $90m up front to acquire Orphan Technologies and its Phase I/II enzyme replacement therapy for homocystinuria. Earnouts up to $427m are possible as well.

Gilead's remdesivir is first drug fully approved by FDA to treat COVID-19. Roche and Atea team up on an investigational direct acting antiviral while Moderna reaches the 30,000-patient enrollment target for its Phase III COVE study of the company's investigational mRNA vaccine. 

Nuvation started in 2018 and raised a $275m series A round in 2019. Now it is merging with the EcoR1 Capital-sponsored SPAC Panacea Acquisition Corp. and raising $500m in equity capital.

Vifor CEO Stefan Schulze tells Scrip that an expanded deal with Korsuva developer Cara Therapeutics means the US biotech will not have to invest in a commercial organization as the Swiss firm will mobilize its well-established sales force to launch the treatment for dialysis patients with CKD-associated pruritus.

Through a licensing-out deal with ORIC for its EGFR/HER2 exon-20 inhibitor, South Korea's Voronoi hopes to gain from its new partner's commercialization experience in NSCLC. The alliance aims to build a potentially best-in-class presence in a competitive landscape.

Curon thinks tenalisib can offer a differentiated and safe new therapy for hematologic cancers such as multiple forms of lymphoma. Axis and PharmaEssentia team up on TCR therapy R&D in Taiwan.

Deal snapshot: Resolving a loose end from its 2014 buyout of Auxilium, Endo acquires all rights to Xiaflex, along with approved cellulite therapy Qwo.