Still working to refile its NASH fibrosis NDA 22 months after an FDA complete response letter, Intercept gets $405m up front for its ex-US business, including commercial rights to Ocaliva in PBC.

The latest batch of new drug approvals in Japan includes several products receiving their first marketing clearances globally, notably a new oral competitor to a blockbuster ulcerative colitis drug and a high-need therapy for the rare disease ASMD.

Private Company Edition: Westlake Village BioPartners-founded Neuron23 will take the LRRK2 inhibitor NEU-723 for Parkinson’s disease into human testing before the end of 2022. Also, Celsius raised $83m in fresh VC cash and ITM added another €33m to its recent €25m equity financing.

The latest policies from Beijing show that the Chinese government is readying its own new vaccines and drugs for COVID-19 in a bid to gradually ease some of the strictest pandemic restrictions globally, but progress is mixed and domestic reported infections are surging to their highest level since March 2020.