Big Pharma in-licensing has been kind to anti-infectives start-ups Cubist and Versicor, giving them near-term products and significant valuations. Now Althexis, hoping to capitalize on similar opportunities, is merging with Microcide. The deal is a way of jumpstarting the still nascent Althexis and re-starting Microcide, re-setting its valuation and development clock. With Microcide's cephalosporin, technology-based Althexis would get the product focus it lacked. And the deal comes with $60mm in new money from investors who've bought CEO Mark Skaletsky's vision and want him to repeat his success at GelTex.

The Democratic Primary focused heavily on the idea of ‘Medicare for All,’ but the emergence of former Vice President Biden as the party standard bearer – and the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 outbreak – suggests a very different theme for the national campaign.

In a 1 June speech before the Alliance For a Stronger FDA, US FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn stressed the agency’s vigilance in guarding against consumer use of flawed COVID-19 products. He also made comments about the need for doctors to communicate more with patients. See what he said about the use of telehealth here.