With only weeks to go in 2022, the three major pharmas each had inked between 16 and 20 deals. Meanwhile, Pfizer has been less busy with 12 deals, but those include M&A totaling $18.2bn.

Solasia's arsenical drug darinaparsin has received its global-first approval in Japan, for PTCL, in a landmark for the Texan chemist who discovered it back in the 70s and paving the way for wider indications and Asian markets.

In the top May alliance by deal value, Amphista Therapeutics and Bristol Myers Squibb aim to discover and develop targeted small-molecule protein degraders by leveraging Amphista's proprietary Eclipsys platform. BMS gets exclusive global rights to resulting products. Amphista will receive a $30M upfront payment, up to $1.25B in performance-based milestone payments, payment for a limited expansion of the collaboration, as well as royalties on global net sales.

Looking to take advantage of the cool reception private biotechs are receiving from the public markets, a leading European VC is targeting investments of up to €70m per deal in firms with undervalued late-stage assets.