Public Company Edition: Merging with a special purpose acquisition corporation may be an attractive alternative to an initial public offering, but February’s vigorous IPO pace includes seven recent offerings that raised $480.8m in the US. Also, Cassava raised $200m and KalVista brought in $222.5m.

Biotech tried to show that a core inhibitor combined with standard hepatitis B therapy could yield lasting benefit after treatment. Vebicorvir will continue to be studied as a chronic treatment in HBV.

TNX-1600 joins two other candidates, including Phase III TNX-102 SL, in Tonix’s PTSD portfolio. CureVac and Yale partner on mRNA therapies for pulmonary disease.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.