Technical challenges and lackluster investor sentiment about the near-term commercial potential of cell and gene therapies in neurological disorders may be holding the field back.

Public Company Edition: Merging with a special purpose acquisition corporation may be an attractive alternative to an initial public offering, but February’s vigorous IPO pace includes seven recent offerings that raised $480.8m in the US. Also, Cassava raised $200m and KalVista brought in $222.5m.

IPO Edition: Sana leads the group with a $587.5m initial public offering, while Immunocore and Bolt follow with $200m-plus IPOs. The 10 newly public companies generated a 43.3% average return on 8 Feb.

Pharma pays $100m up front and makes $20m equity investment for rights to three preclinical cancer programs. Plus more than 20 deal summaries, including COVID-19-related transactions.