Looking to develop the first drug therapy for FA, Larimar gets US FDA hold due to deaths in non-human primate study. This alters clinical development timelines and fundraising plans for the firm.

Vanderbilt launches new biotech with Deerfield aimed at reworking the drug development paradigm, while also expanding its cancer research work with BI. Grunenthal partners with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to investigate ion channel modulation approaches in pain.

Johnson & Johnson maintains hectic deal-making pace via RA tie-up with Monash and "diabesity" collaboration with UC San Diego.

This month's roundup also records a second tie-up between Florida State and Spotlight Innovations, while Taiwan's Lin Biosciences licenses global rights to a CDC7 kinase inhibitor from Columbia and Memorial Sloan Kettering.