AlloVir/Baylor, Soligenix/Hawaii and CEL-SCI/Georgia ink coronavirus collaborations, but deal-making continues in other areas as well, including Asklepios/UNC teaming on a gene therapy for Angelman syndrome and DeMelle licensing a targeted pancreatic cancer drug from Moffitt, among others.

A collaboration between Novo and Fauna will look at animal hibernation and genetic sequencing for hints toward novel therapies for obesity. Pfizer will use Insilico’s machine learning technology in target validation.

China was a focus of discussions at the 2020 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, as a Phase One trade agreement was signed to end a 17-month dispute with the US. Patent linkage and IP protection enforcement are also being closely watched, while Chinese firms including BeiGene continue to make strides in oncology deal-making.

The series A fundraising will help Locana bring CRISPR gene editing to diseases with dysfunctional RNA. Artizan and OncoMyx are among the other firms with recent series A rounds.