Neuroscience and oncology fuel high hopes for therapeutic R&D progress among 90-plus surveyed biopharma industry leaders.

Already partnered on antibody-drug conjugates and a Phase III breast cancer candidate, Merck could pay up to $9.3bn under its third pact in 2022 with Kelun. Eisai divests Fycompa to Catalyst.

Combining biological insights with data science, the start-up emerges from stealth mode after two years of assembling its technology platform and R&D pipeline based on internal and external know-how.

Private Company Edition: Polaris is raising up to $400m for its next tech and health care fund, following in the footsteps of several life science investors this year. Also, Nevakar raises $50m in a product financing agreement and RAPT closes a $37m series C extension.