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.

Following last year’s license pact with Arvelle in Europe and a US launch earlier this year, SK Biopharmaceuticals’ sizable deal with Ono now paves the way for the South Korean company to enter the Japanese market and further expand antiepileptic cenobamate’s global presence.

Access Bio joins Abbott as the second company with FDA authorization to distribute PCR, antigen and antibody tests for COVID-19.

While Vertex appears to have the cystic fibrosis market covered with its CFTR modulators, Enterprise has been exploring another channel, TMEM16A, in the hope of developing compounds that could possibly be used by everybody with the lethal genetic disease.