Pandemic-related collaborations between Hoth/VCU; Sorrento/Mt. Sinai Health; Audax/Northeastern U.; Alkido/U. of Maryland, Baltimore; Active Motif/Hisun BioRay/Fudan U. and more.

Sanofi to sell most of its Regeneron stake, with much of it being re-purchased by Regeneron, but both stressed the move would not hurt their long established and very profitable drug-development collaboration.

Developing some of the first coronavirus vaccines and antibody testing kits, venture-backed firms in China have responded fast and partnered actively in the fight against the pandemic, helping them to raise new funds and reach deals. But there have been cautionary tales in other sectors and some investors remain wary.

Also, news on transactions involving Neurocrine/Idorsia, Neurotrope/Metuchen, jCyte/Santen, PTC/Censa, Hoth/Chelexa, Skyhawk/Merck & Co., Orexo/Gaia, Karo/J&J, MaxCyte/Caribou, Mediolanum/ElsaLys, Avectas/ONK

Former Alexion execs and Rallybio co-founders Martin Mackay, Steve Uden and Jeffrey Fryer closed a series B venture capital round to take three candidates into the clinic and acquire additional programs.

Hetero is one of the new licensees for Gilead’s remdesivir, the investigational antiviral in the spotlight as a potential treatment for COVID-19, and the Indian group’s managing director shares insights on its supply chain readiness and the royalty model of the deal.

Swedish biotech Affibody hopes an R&D alliance with China-based Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals will speed development of its lead compound for auto-immune diseases.

Sanofi’s decision to return to originator Hanmi all rights to the novel diabetes candidate efpeglenatide, which is in global Phase III trials, has placed the South Korean pharma in a difficult spot. Unless there are some surprisingly positive data, finding a major global partner for commercialization may be tough.

Two preclinical antibodies targeted at stromal biology-associated immuno-oncology processes from Canada’s Northern Biologics have been acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim, which is also to collaborate with Switzerland’s CDR-Life on the development of a preclinical antibody fragment aimed at geographic atrophy associated with age-related macular degeneration.