Private Company Edition: As venture capital funding continues at a robust pace relative to public company financings, Knopp Biosciences and Population Health Partners launched Areteia with enough cash to fund Phase III asthma trials and Qiming revealed new VC funds totaling $2.5bn and $700m.

After apparent long delays in development, AbbVie returns rights to Dong-A's MerTK program, with the South Korean pharma yet to determine the fate of the still preclinical stage assets.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds continue to add up, including recent financings for Connect Biopharma ($115m) and Synthego ($100m). Also, Civilization Ventures closed a new $35m fund and Triumvira launched with $55m.

In case you missed it: catch up with snippets from interviews published by In Vivo this month.