Merck pays undisclosed upfront fees and promises up to $500m for milestones under licensing and collaboration agreement. Meanwhile, Tetraphase and Xerava are being acquired by La Jolla, after previous bids by Melinta and AcelRx.

Pharma pays $100m up front and makes $20m equity investment for rights to three preclinical cancer programs. Plus more than 20 deal summaries, including COVID-19-related transactions.

Private Company Edition: The Novo Holdings Repair Impact Fund wants to fund another round of antimicrobial resistance efforts. Also, Atlas Venture raised a new $400m fund, Everest closed a $310m series C round and Cognition received a $78.5m grant.

Focused on precision medicine for renal disease, Chinook gets Aduro’s Nasdaq listing and starting capital of $200m. During a wave of modest-sized M&A deals, Tetra finds buyer, Tetraphase gets competing bids.