Private Company Edition: Amplitude Ventures raised $192m for its second fund, while XGEN Venture debuted with €160m ($173.4m). Also, hub-and-spoke biopharma operator CinRx added $73m, Adcendo extended its series A round to €98m ($106.2m) and Grey Wolf raised $50m.

Emerging Company Profile: CinFina is advancing two novel mechanisms of action in obesity as monotherapies and in combination with GLP-1s.

Eli Lilly, striving to outpace Novo Nordisk, dominated the dealmaking scene in 2023 by executing six acquisitions. Although Pfizer, BMS and AbbVie sealed the largest M&A deals of the year, they did not lead in terms of volume.

Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca are once again going up against each other in chronic kidney disease, with Phase II results for their rival new agents showing promise. Unfortunately, they both also lie in the path of Novo Nordisk’s cardiometabolic juggernaut, Ozempic.