Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds continue a brisk pace with machine learning-based drug discovery firm insitro and gene therapy developer Graphite Bio among recent $100m-plus deals. Also, Argobio raised €50m to fund five start-ups in Europe. 

AstraZeneca is developing a COVID-19 vaccine as a “public health emergency not a commercial opportunity” but has to maintain its business growth plans at the same time.

Two potential COVID-19 vaccine trials from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are set to resume in the US following temporary pauses due to safety concerns. Data from both could come later this year.

The company reiterates core values to 'follow the science' and 'put patients first' after talk of an emergency use authorization without completing Phase III trials.