Plus deals involving Zai Lab/Karuna, Zai Lab/Blueprint, Lotus/PharmaMar, Nippon Shinyaku/Dynacure, Alphamab/Ascletis, Aptose/Hanmi, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals/HUYABIO, KoBioLabs/SPH Sine, CURACLE/ Théa Open Innovation, Signet/XtalPi, Curi Bio/NEXEL, CANbridge/Scriptr and Ligand/CRDC.

While COVID-19 shocked global financial markets and is expected to impact biopharma fundraising, investment in drug developers continues, including through two new venture capital funds totaling nearly $2bn. Also, Coherus issues debt to fund deals and MOMA launches with $86m in VC cash.

France’s fledgling biotech Dynacure has pulled together a series C funding round to support its ongoing Phase I/II study of an antisense molecule for an ultrarare myopathy.

Thierry Laugel, managing partner of the Paris-based financiers, tells Scrip about the virtues of its 'company creation model,' giving innovative ideas time to mature rather than rushing to the market.