VC funding slowed recently, but public company financings kept up a brisk pace with follow-on public offerings for Allakos and Alpine, private placements for Ventyx and Syros, and Albireo’s royalty deal. In restructuring updates, Biogen raised $592m in a real estate deal and Acerus is assessing options.

Early conversations on clinical trial endpoints were particularly helpful in developing Comirnaty, a Pfizer executive said. Whether sponsors can continue to get such discussions may go a long way in determining whether a new generation of products is developed.

Public Company Edition: Mergers with special purpose acquisition corporations also continue to take companies public, with three new SPAC offerings in late 2021. Also, Xeris raised $30m in a private placement of stock to support its recently approved drug and Sirnaomics went public in Hong Kong.

A complete response letter from the FDA has dashed Sesen Bio’s hopes of being first with a therapy for treating BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Its CEO says the FDA’s move may reflect heightened ‘pressure’ regulator is under.