The unexpected firing of Arcturus CEO Joseph Payne kicked off a bitter public battle for control of the RNA therapeutics firm after a reverse merger with Alcobra in November. The dispute now settled, the new board has reinstated Payne at Arcturus' helm.

Third-quarter biopharma financing, which totaled $12.5 billion, was dominated by follow-on public offerings, which represented virtually half the value. Acquisition activity was headlined by a major move by Gilead in the CART market. Five alliances were signed worth over $1 billion, led by a partnership between two key players, Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca.

Daiichi teams with Glycotope on an antibody-drug conjugate for cancer, while Alector will partner with AbbVie to research antibody targets for Alzheimer’s disease.

A review of biopharma start-up deal-making and financing activity from July through September 2017, based on data from Strategic Transactions, showed that fundraising declined 18% from the previous quarter, however the number of acquisitions doubled to eight.