The summer slowdown finally seems to have hit the US biopharma IPO market; after a hot July with nine offerings, there were just two during the first half of August. Also, Zogenix leads recent follow-ons with a $312m offering; venture capital planted in UK biotechs – Orchard and Blueberry.

NeRRe Therapeutics has set up a new entity around a drug which it believes could be an effective alternative to hormone replacement therapy for hot flashes that may rapidly reduce debilitating sleep disturbance.

After raising $34 million from Britain’s stock market, the U.K. biotech now plans to develop its Affimer proteins as therapeutics as well as research reagents, to enable two complementary strands of business.

This Month's Profile Group, BioHub At Alderley Park, features profiles of Absynth Biologics, Blueberry Therapeutics, Molplex Pharmaceuticals, and OncoTherics. Plus these Start-Ups Across Health Care: Centerline Biomedical, Laurimed, and Portal Instruments.