The virtual J.P. Morgan Healthcare meeting was missing the usual energy but still had substance.

Deal snapshot: Roche’s third partnership around small molecule, RNA-targeted therapies taps Ribometrix’s three-dimensional structural analysis of RNA to find pockets amenable to small molecule drugs.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital invested in pharma and biotech in 2020 totaled $19.5m through Q3, just $400m below the full-year record total of $19.9bn in 2018. Also, Canaan and Catalio reveal new VC funds, while Talaris’s $115m series B leads recent financings.

The role of biopharma start-ups in bringing innovative therapies to the market has grown enormously. These waves of new specialist companies often have the most innovative approaches to targeting a disease, and big pharma has become increasingly reliant on their fresh ideas to power pipelines.