Mersana signs its third ADC partnership with big pharmas for the year with Merck agreement. Lilly expands its RNA editing partnership with ProQR, which now has the potential to earn an additional $2.5bn. Novartis continues its divestment efforts in deals with Harrow, Erasca.

Failure of pherine nasal spray candidate in first of two Phase III trials for social anxiety disorder puts program in doubt, while the California biotech’s share price craters.

Public Company Edition: Initial public offerings may take a holiday break, but 2020 already has been a remarkable year for IPOs in the US and China. Also, Arvinas led the latest follow-ons with a $400m offering followed by TG Therapeutics with a $275m stock sale.

Also, deals involving Immunomic, Replicate, Biocon, DKSH, Genor, G1, Daiichi Sankyo, Esperion, Alteogen, Gelesis, China Medical System Holdings, Sosei and EverInsight.