Private Company Edition: The Paragon Biosciences-founded Emalex previously raised $35m when ecopipam was in Phase II. Also, Catalio Capital launches a “special situations” fund, Zenas raises $118m to develop a pipeline of autoimmune disease treatments and Lusaris emerges with $60m.

Deal Snapshot: Building on a 2021 tie-up between Takeda and the Paragon start-up, Evozyne will seek novel protein sequences for inclusion in gene therapies for rare disease indications.

Private Company Edition: The astonishing pace of venture capital investment in drug development continues with another $1.5bn in financings of $100m or more, including $152m for Pyxis and $126m for Omega. New VC funds also continue to launch, including RiverVest’s fifth fund, totaling $275m.

Aspen Neuroscience, Pandion and iTeos raised $70m, $80m and $125m, respectively. Also, Glide Healthcare closed a €416m ($450m) fund; ElevateBio, Kallyope and SutroVax reveal VC mega-rounds; and Dragonfly adds new funding to its partnering proceeds.