Public Company Edition: Four health care special purpose acquisition vehicles went public and two others announced mergers, but only one biopharma firm priced an IPO during the week of 19-23 October. Replimune’s $250m offering led recent FOPOs.

Gilead's remdesivir is first drug fully approved by FDA to treat COVID-19. Roche and Atea team up on an investigational direct acting antiviral while Moderna reaches the 30,000-patient enrollment target for its Phase III COVE study of the company's investigational mRNA vaccine. 

An advanced immunotherapy for recurrent glioblastoma and the first biosimilar version of Lucentis for age-related macular degeneration have also been submitted for review by the European Medicines Agency for potential pan-EU authorization.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital invested in pharma and biotech in 2020 totaled $19.5m through Q3, just $400m below the full-year record total of $19.9bn in 2018. Also, Canaan and Catalio reveal new VC funds, while Talaris’s $115m series B leads recent financings.