Private Company Edition: J.P. Morgan raised more than $500m in its first venture fund and the Africa Health Security Investment Plan gained $2bn. Also, Marea launched with $190m, Iambic’s series B expanded to $150m, InduPro raised an $85m series A and Elion closed an $81m series B.

In its Beyond Borders 2024 report, coinciding with the start of the BIO meeting, EY analysts see declining revenues for big pharma, which could be addressed by M&A, if the right takeouts exist.

Veteran developers stay on to accelerate development of potential first-in-class drug to challenge Bayer/Regeneron’s Eylea and Roche’s Vabysmo in a deal worth up to $3bn.

The ranks of B7-H3-targeting antibody-drug conjugates under development in China have seen their first dropout, although elsewhere there are two FGFR2b-directed ADCs with first-in-class potential on the horizon. Meanwhile, there have been other discontinuations of KRAS G12C inhibitors and anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapies in the country, while new players have surfaced in the areas of mRNA cancer vaccines and amyloid-beta-targeting antibodies for Alzheimer’s disease.