Mersana will help J&J develop antibody-drug conjugates against three targets, while AstraZeneca out-licenses a candidate for peripheral artery disease to Regio.

Oxford Biomedica is teaming with Santen to develop a gene therapy for an undisclosed eye disease. Shionogi inks a pair of partnerships for Chinese rights to lusutrombopag and epertinib.

Partnership will use Carna’s proprietary lipid kinase drug discovery platform, bringing another aspect to Gilead’s IO efforts. Catalent continues expansion by acquiring Novavax R&D assets; Genfit licenses elafibranor in China to Terns.

The drug development arm of the UK charity, Cancer Research UK, has started early clinical development of potentially a new type of anticancer, a Cdc7 inhibitor, discovered by Eli Lilly, in an effort that could boost traction in this new area of research.