In the private market, eight Chinese biotechs raised a combined $116m in deals backed by venture capital and private equity firms over the past few weeks.

Vertex and CRISPR look beyond beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. Also, Bicycle gets $50m up front in Novartis deal, Regeneron commits $75m initially under a Treg collaboration with Sonoma, and Jounce gets a better deal from Concentra to wave off Redx merger.

As the usual flurry of deals coincides with the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, AbbVie signed an mRNA pact with Anima and a cancer research tie-up with Immunome.

The US biotech has nabbed a deal with Regeneron to develop bispecific cancer therapies by combining their respective technology platforms, getting $30m upfront in a positive twist of fate following a recent clinical trial challenge.