Private Company Edition: Former Merck R&D head Roger Perlmutter and his new team have accessed drug candidates in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases from three companies, along with new funding. Also, Carmot raised $150m in series E equity and BenchSci brought in $70m.

The US FDA approved Rexulti as the first drug for agitation in Alzheimer’s disease, a multibillion-dollar market where Lundbeck estimates it could bring in $1bn in annual sales.

It will come as no surprise that cross-border M&A is impacted by the world we live in, with geopolitical tensions, rising inflation and interest rates, currency fluctuations, and increased regulatory scrutiny all playing their part in making deals more challenging to execute.

CEO Barry Greene and team spoke with Scrip about Sage and Biogen’s focus on short-term, episodic dosing, and said doctors and payers – pending zuranolone’s approval – are responding to the sales pitch.