Public Company Edition: Direct Biologics, YishengBio and Estrella Biopharma will go public by merging with special purpose acquisition corporations. Also, Vir lands a government contract worth up to $1bn, Idorsia raises CHF164m ($167.4m) in a real estate deal and Adamis reviews alternatives.

After CEO David Loew declared again that Ipsen would be very active in the dealmaking space, Ipsen is paying $45m upfront to access two immuno-oncology candidates from Marengo and bagged an ERK inhibitor from AGV Discovery.

Ipsen CEO David Loew recently told Scrip that a return to more rational valuations for biotechs should led to more deals. The Epizyme acquisition could be the first of many by the French group this year.

David Loew has assembled a strong business development team which secured seven licensing pacts in 2021 and the Ipsen CEO tells Scrip that this year should see more of the same.