Insmed shares got a 40% boost as the company announced plans to move into Phase III this year with its potential first-in-class candidate for the lung disease.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

Private start-up's acebilustat failed to improve lung function in Phase II, but the anti-inflammatory showed large numerical reductions in pulmonary exacerbations, which can be fatal.

BioNTech's $270m Series A round was the biggest start-up financing in January, but sizeable rounds also were raised by Centrexion ($67m), Eureka ($60m) and Pandion ($58m).