Vertex and CRISPR look beyond beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Also, Bicycle gets $50m up front in Novartis deal, Regeneron commits $75m initially under a Treg collaboration with Sonoma, and Jounce gets a better deal from Concentra to wave off Redx merger.

GentiBio closed a $157m series A venture capital round, while clinical trial innovator Reify Health raised a $220m series C and Neurelis secured $150m. Also, IPOs slowed in August, but Adagio and Eliem grossed $309.4m and $80m, respectively, and RNA firm Greenlight will go public in a $282m SPAC deal. 

Private Company Edition: The latest $100m-plus VC financings include $112.5m for PepGen, Deep Genomics’ $180m series C round and a $166m series D for Rakuten Medical. Also, Lumira Ventures raised a $220m fourth fund and will manage a separate $35m fund backed by Angelini Pharma.

The company will determine whether a single administration of autologous regulatory T-cells (T_regs) can reset and restore immune tolerance in autoimmune, inflammatory and neuroinflammatory diseases.