Akebia brings in Cyclerion’s diabetes candidate praliciguat, plus deals involving Genmab/Bolt, Auris/Trasir, Zymergen/Lodo, Bavarian Nordic/Dynavax and more.

Although Bayer's radiopharmaceutical for prostate cancer Xofigo has proved a commercial disappointment, the Leverkusen-headquartered firm is keen to advance its pipeline of targeted alpha therapies, snapping up Noria and its subsidiary PSMA Therapeutics.

Argenx partners with Elektrofi and Iontas; China’s Qilu obtains global rights to Peptron’s antibody-drug conjugate and also ends co-development pact with Quantum Genomics.

The investment is the latest in Bayer’s series of moves into cell and gene therapy, amid growing industry interest in CAR-NKs.