The Danish group has cut 300 jobs to shift to an external innovation sourcing model that will make Leo more competitive in the dermatology space and help it break even this year, CEO Christophe Bourdon tells Scrip.

Evopoint and Kaken also ring in the new year with multiple deals. Biocytogen licenses antibodies against a specified target derived from its RenMice platform technology to Hansoh Pharma.

Private Company Edition: In recent weeks, 19 companies disclosed venture capital funding of $20m or more, including FogPharma with a $178m series D round and Apogee’s $169m launch. Also, Avalon BioVentures spun out of Avalon Ventures with a $135m fund.

The UK firm has announced an extension of its series C financing which means it has raised just shy of $150m in the last 18 months to fund clinical development, manufacturing scale-up and preparations for the potential commercialization of opelconazole.