South Korean firm AriBio is planning to expand global Phase III trials for its oral Alzheimer’s disease candidate following an IND approval at home. Patient enrolment in a US trial began late last year.

Plus deals involving Astellas/Menarini, Maruho/Fortress Biotech, Zenas/Bristol Myers Squibb, Huadong Medicine/MC2 and more.

The partners’ orally administered IL-23R inhibitor met all primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase IIb plaque psoriasis trial, justifying advancement to Phase III even though its efficacy fell short of available injectables according to cross-trial comparisons.

Private Company Edition: June’s eight $100m-plus venture capital rounds already outpace the seven each raised in March, April and May, including €255m ($274.2m) for ITM and $200m for Upstream, but while there were five $25m or less VC financings during the past week, mid-sized deals were lacking.