Repeat antibiotic entrepreneurs raised $33m to launch Qpex with assets from The Medicines Co. Also, Taiho increases VC fund to $300m and TP Therapeutics raises $80m.

Venture Capital Edition: A VC investor at a recent conference said it's "hogwash" that venture capitalists aren't interested in funding early-stage biopharma, but the trend toward large financings – such as the $220m raised to date by Rubius – and 2017 investment data suggest otherwise.

Celularity launched with $250m to develop cell therapies with technology licensed from Celgene and others, while mRNA specialist Moderna brought in another $500m mega round and Generation Bio closed a $100m Series B to fund ongoing gene therapy programs.