Private Company Edition: Flagship’s Pioneering Medicines initiative and the firm’s portfolio companies will deliver cystic fibrosis drug candidates. Also, recent venture capital financings include cloud technology firm Saama’s $430m round and Shoreline’s $140m in new funding.

Compass raises $132m in Series A as it moves from screening to the clinic, and start-up HotSpot Therapeutics comes out of stealth mode with a $45m Series A financing co-led by Atlas Venture and Sofinnova Partners.

With biopharma venture capital investment of $9.67bn during the first half, 2018's total is on track to beat 2017 in the third quarter. IPOs, one of the factors fueling VC investment, continue to boom with five more drug developers slated to go public this week.

First quarter VC investments in biopharma set high expectations for the second quarter; Acorda cuts jobs after patent litigation defeat, plus other strategic realignments; no new US IPOs, but Europe has three; and notable follow-on offerings.