Private Company Edition: VC mega-rounds boosted the Q1 2021 total. Also, new funds from Versant, The Column Group and Rapha Capital keep cash flowing into biopharma; up to $525m is invested in Exscientia; and Arch Oncology and Boundless Bio raised $105m each, while Forge brought in $120m.

Taysha gains control of GAN candidate and program; BI licenses COMT inhibitors from Lieber Institute; plus three new gene therapy-driven tie-ups between biopharma and academia.

Plus deals involving SELLAS/3D Medicines, Kyowa Kirin/InveniAI, JW/Voronoi, Y-mAbs/Takeda, Horizon Discovery/Sanyou, Sentinel Oncology/PharmaEngine

Although only interim data from six treated patients, Capricor’s Phase II DMD study shows improvements in upper limb performance, grip strength and respiration. Cardiac performance shows positive trend, but not yet statistical significance.