Finance Watch

Private Company Edition: Protego’s series B round comes four years after its $51m series A. Also, Aspen Neuroscience reveals a $115m series C round, Profluent raises $106m to fund AI-enabled protein design and Phrontline brings in $60m in pre-series A+ financing.

Public Company Edition: Lilly’s obesity franchise makes it the highest-valued health care company in the US. Also, Genmab accesses $4.5bn to fund its $8bn Merus buy, Moderna locks in a $1.5bn credit facility and Ionis sells $700m worth of notes.

Restructuring Edition: Nxera will cut its workforce by 15% in Japan and the UK, among other changes. Also, nearing the end of its cash, Applied Therapeutics cuts 46% of its employees, Korro will cut staffing by 34% as it shifts focus and Metagenomi revealed a 25% workforce reduction.

Private Company Edition: Solve Therapeutics raised $120m in new funding for its Phase I ADC programs and CloakLink linker platform, while Artios will use its $115m series D cash to fund Phase II trials for its drugs targeting the DNA damage response in cancer, plus other recent VC financings.

Public Company Financings: Biomedtracker’s third quarter report shows a big jump from Q2 in follow-on offerings, private placements and debt. Also, Evommune brings the US biopharma IPO tally for 2025 to a dozen and Merck’s Blackstone deal gives it $700m to develop a key ADC asset.

Private Company Edition: Braveheart Bio licensed its selective cardiac myosin inhibitor from Hengrui. Also, Arena BioWorks shuts down after raising $500m in 2024, GHO Capital closed a €2.5bn ($2.9bn) private equity fund and new cash brings Tubulis’s series C to €344m ($401m).

Public Company Edition: MapLight grossed $288.4m plus $8.1m from a private placement to fund neuropsychiatry clinical trials. Also, Evommune set a price range for its pending IPO of up to $183.3m, Sanofi priced a $3bn bond issue and Arcus raised $250m in a follow-on offering.

Public Company Edition: From Praxis’s $525m offering and Summit’s $500m private placement to Valneva’s $500m in new debt and Cidara’s $339m BARDA award, publicly traded firms are raising big money from diverse sources while biopharma stock valuations are on an upswing.

Private Company Edition: Electra will run a Phase II/III trial for ELA026 and advance a second SIRP-targeting drug with its new cash. Also, cardiovascular-focused Kardigan raised $254m, while Veradermics and Pelage brought in $150m and $120m, respectively, for hair loss treatments.

Private Company Edition: October started with several $100m-plus VC financings, including $200m for Souffle Therapeutics, Expedition’s $165m series A round, $153m in series E cash for Arthrosi and a $101m series A for Nilo. Also, three life science investors closed new funds.

Restructuring Edition: Takeda’s shift away from cell therapies will impact 137 employees. Meanwhile, Bolt is cutting its workforce by 50% to extend its cash runway into 2027, Innate’s staffing will drop by 30% and X4 will halve its workforce under a restructuring plan.

Public Company Edition: With average biopharma IPO returns in the double digits, investors may be more receptive to new drug developer offerings. Also, positive data fueled follow-on offerings, with uniQure grossing $300m, MBX raising $200m and Enanta gaining $65m.

Private Company Edition: Sparrow Pharmaceuticals will take clofutriben into a Phase IIb study in type 2 diabetes with elevated cortisol. Also, T.Rx Capital launched with $77.5m for its inaugural fund, AusperBio raised a $63m series B2 round and Avenzo closed a $60m series B.

Private Company Edition: Flagship’s Lila secures big series A cash six months after $200m seed funding announced in March. Also, Reunion Neuroscience increases its series A to $133m, Dualitas launches with $65m and Tasca grows its series A to $67m as its lead drug enters Phase I/II.

Public Company Edition: The neuropsychiatric disease-focused firm grossed $285m in the first IPO in the US above $100m since February. Also, Avidity raised $600m in a follow-on offering, Alnylam priced a $575m note sale and Propanc joins MEI in biopharma’s cryptocurrency ranks.

Private Company Edition: Early-stage drug developers saw the biggest drop in venture capital investment in Q2, according to Biomedtracker. Also, Atlas raised a $400m fund to back prior investments, Enveda’s $150m series D round and Harvey Berger will helm Arena BioWorks.

Public Company Edition: The US jobs report for August hurt the S&P 500 and Dow Jones, but the XBI rose 2.2% and is up 6% year-to-date. Despite signs of life, with a recent small IPO from Curanex and a larger one proposed by LB Pharmaceuticals, fundraising was down in Q2.

Private Company Edition: Treeline will fund Phase I trials for at least four cancer drugs with its $200m series A extension. Also, allogeneic CAR-T developer Wugen raised $115m, CHARM Therapeutics garnered $80m in series B cash and Plexium disclosed a $60.1m financing.

BeOne could realize up to $950m under a deal with Royalty Pharma for its portion of sales from Amgen’s DLL3 inhibitor. Also, Novavax refinanced convertible debt, Kriya Therapeutics raised $313.3m in venture capital and Vaxxas garnered A$89.2m ($57.9m) in venture debt and cash.

Restructuring Edition: CSL Group will spin out CSL Seqirus as a standalone vaccines business as the parent company slims down. Some struggling companies are turning to investing in cryptocurrencies to create shareholder value.