Pieris and Genentech try partnering again after a disappointing IO tie-up before. Biogen’s hectic May includes partnerships with Ginkgo, Envisagenics, Capsigen and an opt-in on TMS’s stroke candidate.

Also, deals involving AbCellera/Angios, AstraZeneca/Alchemab, Kowa/Esteve, OSE/Veloxis, Tris/Park, Core One/Akome and Vertex/Obsidian.

Zentalis outlines promising antitumor activity associated with its WEE1 inhibitor, Phase II trials are planned for Pieris Pharmaceuticals’ fusion protein in HER2-positive cancers, while HPV-positive cancers are being targeted by Hookipa’s immunotherapeutics in arenavirus vectors, and Eli Lilly is planning early-stage clinical trials with its next-generation KRAS inhibitor.

The approval of first-generation checkpoint inhibitors, Merck’s Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo in the second half of 2014, catalyzed a wave of deal-making, not only around other checkpoint inhibitors, but also for molecules and technologies that could offer synergistic benefits when used in combination with these drugs.