The drug maker is spending $250m to acquire privately held Celsius and its lead candidate, a monoclonal antibody targeting TREM1 in inflammatory bowel disease.

Private Company Edition: Two companies raised multiple hundreds of millions of dollars each helping to keep the number of $100m-plus venture capital mega-rounds on the rise in May. Also, Ascend raised $132.5m to make gene and cell therapies, and Nido emerged with $109m for neurological diseases.

The French firm’s vorasidenib, obtained via a 2020 deal with Agios, has met the primary endpoint in a pivotal glioma trial, according to interim data, validating its strategic focus on the oncology space.

With valuations down and borrowing costs up, many industry insiders are expecting Darwinian scenes in biotech this year. Survival of the fittest is the order of the day: companies with riskier, less commercially defined propositions will struggle, while platform companies with multiple shots on strong goals will increasingly find favor in a more risk-averse environment.