Private Company Edition: Newpath Partners’ second fund totals $350m, Merck KGaA committed €600m to M Ventures, Eir Ventures raised €122.3m and Breakout Ventures has $112.5m. Recent financings were led by SOTIO ($317.5m), Odyssey ($218m), Avistone ($200m) and Acepodia ($109m).

Merck pays undisclosed upfront fees and promises up to $500m for milestones under licensing and collaboration agreement. Meanwhile, Tetraphase and Xerava are being acquired by La Jolla, after previous bids by Melinta and AcelRx.

Also, news on transactions involving Neurocrine/Idorsia, Neurotrope/Metuchen, jCyte/Santen, PTC/Censa, Hoth/Chelexa, Skyhawk/Merck & Co., Orexo/Gaia, Karo/J&J, MaxCyte/Caribou, Mediolanum/ElsaLys, Avectas/ONK

Former Ignyta executive Zachary Hornby wasn't wowed by immuno-oncology pitches when looking for his next cancer drug development company, but was intrigued by ecDNA research at UCSD, which also could generate a tumor agnostic approach.