While the proposed Bristol/Celgene merger nears an April vote, Celgene continues a recent spate of deal-making, paying $25m up front to Exscientia to discover small molecule candidates for cancer and autoimmune 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.

A review of biopharma start-up dealmaking and financing from July through September 2016, based on data from Strategic Transactions.

Start-up fundraising for Q3 2013 totaled $559.4 million, down from last quarter’s big rally ($907.2 million) but still up from the sluggish first quarter ($398.7 million). More than half of that money went to biopharma companies, a group which also received investments through alliances with equity provisions.