Phase III data for PTC’s sepiapterin shows statistically significant reduction of blood phenylalanine levels in patients with phenylketonuria. BioMarin has the only two approved drugs for PKU.

Public Company Edition: J&J’s consumer health spinout Kenvue grossed $3.8bn in its public market debut and Acelyrin raised $540m in an upsized IPO. Also, Seres accessed $250m in new debt for Vowst commercialization while follow-on offerings raised $325m for ImmunoGen and $240m for Morphic. 

Public Company Edition: The closure of Silicon Valley Bank sank biotech stocks in the first full week of March, but valuations rose the next week when two big acquisitions were announced. Also, J&J’s consumer health spinout sold $7.75bn in notes ahead of its future IPO and Karuna grossed $400m in a follow-on offering.

Special purpose acquisition companies can bring biopharma firms to market faster than a traditional initial public offering, but frequent failures and increased scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission mean their heyday in the life sciences space is arguably over.