Private Company Edition: Last year set a high bar for venture capital, but this year is starting strong. Recent VC mega-deals include $500m for EQRx and $230m-plus for Tessera Therapeutics. Also, BioGeneration Ventures closed a €140m ($170.2m) fund and NewAmsterdam raised a $196m series A.

NIH’s National Cancer Institute licensed two experimental cancer therapies in the past month to biopharma firms, leading a heavy slate of cancer-focused tech transfer deal-making.

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.

Sanofi says the virtual innovation lab it will create with Google will enable precision health care and optimize R&D and commercial operations. Incoming CEO Hudson has been tasked with improving the pharma’s R&D and digital capabilities.