Also, two more health care-focused SPACs went public, Centessa obtained up to $300m in debt, three new venture capital funds launched and Intergalactic debuted with a $75m series A round.

With 88 initial public offerings in the US through the end of the third quarter of 2021, the biopharma industry is two IPOs ahead of the full-year 2020 total, but with an average return of -4% momentum may slow.

Appili brings in AiPharma to help with US/Canadian development of Fujifilm’s potential COVID-19 preventative/therapeutic. Other recent tie-ups include CinFina/Janssen, Bone/Impant, Bayer/Gubra, Novartis/Theragnostics, Grifols/Biotest and more.

The US Food and Drug Administration has taken additional steps to ensure mutations of the COVID-19 virus do not negatively impact the efficacy of tests.