Public Company Edition: Codiak, Kiromic, Aligos and Opthea have fallen below their initial public offering values, while Tarsus and Praxis are trading higher. Also, 5AM, MPM and Cormorant took biotech SPACs public and Evotec led recent non-IPO financings with a €250m private placement.

Initial public offerings by Norbert Bischofberger’s start-up as well as Spruce Biosciences and Shattuck Labs bring the US total to 65 in 2020. Also, the pipeline of health care SPACs is growing, Everest and Genor went public in Hong Kong, Idorsia leads recent follow-on offerings and Corbus cuts jobs.

As the clock ticks down to the US election day on 3 November, President Trump maintains that the first COVID-19 vaccine emergency use approval is imminent. Meanwhile, Fujifilm Toyama's Avigan is near to Japanese approval.

The merger closed in May, so the second quarter earnings report will be the first presentation of the combined company’s performance and outlook.