Public Company Edition: Blackstone Life Sciences Yield will finance approved products, while the firm’s prior fund supports late-stage programs. Also, Coeptis will merge with a SPAC, Bausch + Lomb secured post-IPO debt, and BioXcel revealed a $260m financing and new subsidiary.

Affimed looks to build on the splash at last year’s American Association for Cancer Research meeting next month, while BioNTech aims to prove its immunotherapy capabilities with a CAR-T candidate.

Early clinical results for AFM13 combined with NK cells showed high response rates without serious toxicities, and the data could have readthrough to the company’s EGFR-targeted therapy.

An education session looked at ways researchers are hoping to make cell therapies more applicable in solid tumors.