Public Company Edition: Almost halfway through the year, initial public offerings equal nearly three-quarters of the 2020 total. Also, Pardes is one of four new SPAC mergers; HUTCHMED launched an IPO in Hong Kong; and Zentalis, Theravance and BioXcel launched follow-on offerings.

Some of the changes from the pandemic are here to stay, but so are some of the concerns that kept them from taking root.

Argenx partners with Elektrofi and Iontas; China’s Qilu obtains global rights to Peptron’s antibody-drug conjugate and also ends co-development pact with Quantum Genomics.

Zentalis outlines promising antitumor activity associated with its WEE1 inhibitor, Phase II trials are planned for Pieris Pharmaceuticals’ fusion protein in HER2-positive cancers, while HPV-positive cancers are being targeted by Hookipa’s immunotherapeutics in arenavirus vectors, and Eli Lilly is planning early-stage clinical trials with its next-generation KRAS inhibitor.