Merck & Co. will pay Seattle Genetics $725m up front in cash under the two deals and make a $1bn equity investment in the company, providing financial flexibility to broadly fund the pipeline.

Continuing parent firm Gilead’s busy deal-making year in immuno-oncology, Kite gets option rights to new targets. Boehringer teams with Israel’s BiomX in IBD research.

Emerging Company Profile: Turning to gene therapy after its dry eye drug didn’t work out, Ocugen hopes to overcome financial challenges to bring a gene therapy into the clinic for numerous mutations of RP.

Three years after the US FDA released a guidance to use real-world evidence in premarket applications, the stakeholder group MDIC has unveiled a framework for how IVD RWE can be captured and used by sponsors for premarket applications.