AR-15512 missed the primary endpoints in a Phase IIb dry eye disease study that could have served as a pivotal trial, but Aerie’s drug hit enough signs and symptoms of the disease to justify a Phase III.

Private Company Edition: Recent biopharma venture capital financings add up to $1.7bn, including a $135m crossover round for HilleVax after spinning out of Takeda in July to advance a norovirus vaccine, Skyhawk’s $133m in fresh funding and Obsidian’s $115m series B round.

Stock-and-cash deal valued at $229m brings AzurRx rights to niclosamide in additional indications. Boehringer Ingelheim partners with Twist on therapeutic antibody discovery.

Belén Garijo, the German group's CEO, has told analysts she considers targeted smaller to medium-sized acquisitions to be more likely than major transformational deals but said that "we are always open to something bolder."