There have been lots of twists and turns on the development path for Inrebic which is now the second JAK inhibitor to be approved in the EU for MF since the blockbuster Jakavi was cleared in 2012.

John Hood spent the past few years looking for a drug candidate worth forming a new company around before he zeroed in on Lilly’s taladegib as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 

Private Company Edition: Immunocore’s $130m round kicked off a series of $100m-plus venture capital deals, including financings for Xilio, Akouos and Pliant. Also, VC investment in cell and gene therapies surged in 2019 and MPM launched two funds with $126 for early cancer research.

Investors in Impact Biosciences, which sold the selective JAK2 inhibitor to Celgene for $1.1bn up front, could double their money with milestone fees based on fedratinib's approval.