Almost 80% of novel agent submissions from the biggest companies were approved in recent years, compared with a 60% approval rate for the rest of the industry, according to a Pink Sheet analysis of FDA approval decisions since 2021.

Private Company Edition: Two companies raised multiple hundreds of millions of dollars each helping to keep the number of $100m-plus venture capital mega-rounds on the rise in May. Also, Ascend raised $132.5m to make gene and cell therapies, and Nido emerged with $109m for neurological diseases.

The proceeds from the series A will be used to progress Dualyx’s preclinical program DT-001, which targets "the highly attractive TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2), widely regarded as a master control switch in immune modulation."

Aspect says its bioprinted tissue therapeutics include immune-resistant encapsulation, which Novo Nordisk hopes will offer a safer approach to type 1 diabetes cell therapy.