Chinese firm Hasten has gained greater China rights to LIB Therapeutics’ lerodalcibep for hypercholesterolemia and believes its bet on the unique PCSK9-binding small protein will be backed by strong commercialization capability, the company says in an interview with Scrip.

Plus deals involving Astellas/Menarini, Maruho/Fortress Biotech, Zenas/Bristol Myers Squibb, Huadong Medicine/MC2 and more.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds of $100m or more held steady in April after a slow January and February then a surge in March, but VC fundraising is down overall this year. In recent raises, Enveda series B expanded to $119m, Vedanta brought in $106.5m and Convergent raised $90m.

Hasten brought in $315m, and Orbital garnered $270m, but while multiple venture firms have raised large new funds, Q1 saw the lowest amount of biopharma VC fundraising in a single quarter since 2019.