Pharma moves Phase III-ready antibody to prevent pneumonia to Aridis, licenses preclinical STING inhibitors from F-star. Sanofi teams with SRI on AI-directed discovery, Biogen licenses BTK inhibitor from InnoCare.

Private Company Edition: Nine new venture capital mega-rounds include Insilico’s series C, $250m from Blackstone for a CAR-T therapy spinout from Intellia and a $210m series B round for Umoja.

Although there was no major acquisition starting out the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the deal-making flow has been steady. Pfizer licensed a neurodegenerative disease candidate to Biogen, while also selling Axsome rights to reboxetine in narcolepsy and fibromyalgia. Biogen signed a neurology R&D collaboration with CAMP4 as well.

Venture Capital Edition: Pfizer deprioritized neuroscience as an early R&D focus earlier this year, but will stay involved by spending 25% of the $600m added to its venture fund on neurology investments. Also, China VC investment keeps up fast pace and Alta Partners closes a new $130m health care fund.