NIH’s National Cancer Institute licensed two experimental cancer therapies in the past month to biopharma firms, leading a heavy slate of cancer-focused tech transfer deal-making.

Private Company Edition: Several drug developers targeting neurological diseases raised venture capital recently. In addition to Nura Bio, Encoded Therapeutics revealed a $135m series D round. Also, Longwood closed a $170m fund and Flagship launched Omega Therapeutics with $85m.

With minimally invasive left-heart procedures like transcatheter aortic valve replacement becoming increasingly safe and commonplace, attention has turned to procedure-associated brain injury from showers of emboli. Several medtech start-ups are developing devices that could protect patients’ brains during not only TAVR, but also surgical aortic valve replacement, atrial fibrillation ablation and other left-heart procedures.

Although TAVR-related stroke rates have been diminishing, it remains a devastating complication of the procedure. Two companies with devices to deflect or collect emboli are embarking on IDE trials that they hope will make cerebral embolic protection a standard of care in TAVR and perhaps other cardiac surgeries, as it already is in carotid artery stenting.