Private Company Edition: Dyno’s first VC round will enable more deals for its novel AAV platform; Eikon pioneers new drug discovery technology. Also, Treeline’s early funding revealed at $211.7m; Capsida raised $140m from a VC round, AbbVie deal; and Affinia closed a $110m series B round. 

Chiesi may not be a big pharma giant but it is very good at spotting early-stage innovative projects and partnering with the likes of Moderna, Protalix and Bioasis to tackle respiratory and rare diseases, CEO Ugo Di Francesco tells Scrip.

During the first quarter, medical device company mergers and acquisition totalled $10.2bn, while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players completed M&A activity that totaled $5bn.

With nearly 3,500 therapies in development globally, and almost $480m in start-up financing in Q1 of 2021 alone, the cell, gene and RNA therapy area is seeing a sharp rise in development and attention.