Fresh cash will help advance the UK firm's one-time investigational gene therapy for geographic atrophy and a listing in the US is in the offing.

Public Company Edition: June has seen 14 initial public offerings by drug developers (and one big biopharma funder) after there were only 15 from January through May – and the month isn’t over yet. Follow-on and other offerings also are hitting the market at a rapid pace.

Biopharma companies struggle with which trials, if any, to pause or delay. Lilly said it wants to ease the burden on health care facilities, while Galapagos said its choice is related to patient safety.

Clinical trials across the board are being impacted by coronavirus and Syncona, the investment powerhouse behind a number of UK cell and gene therapy biotechs, says that its portfolio companies are facing considerable delays.