Plus deals involving BioVaxys/IMV, Immunome/Ayala, Nascent/Manhattan BioSolutions, AVROBIO/Tectonic, Sanofi/Synthekine, NAYA/Florida Biotechnologies as well as deals in brief and tech transfer agreements.

With later-stage in-licensing assets becoming harder to find, Merck is seeking to work more often and in varied ways with academic and institutional researchers to advance its pipeline. Recent tech transfer deals include Cancer Research UK’s transactions with ProNAi and Artios.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Tech Transfer Deals column provides a monthly review of licensing agreements between companies and universities or other research institutions in the In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Device, and Pharmaceutical sectors. This month’s column covers deals announced July through August 2015.

Investments for start-ups seeking their first infusion of venture capital continues to be scarce as venture firms seek later-stage opportunities and liquidity to improve their own chances of raising new funds.