Private Company Edition: Publicly held Ascendis outsourced its preclinical AMD program to private Eyconis. Also, Innovation Endeavors revealed a new $630m VC fund and Mirae raised $50m for its first life science fund, while Accent, Comanche and Tr1X each brought in $75m rounds.

Two early-stage companies have merged to form Calluna Therapeutics, which is targeting immunological diseases and hopes to get to proof of concept by mid-2026.

Lilly looks To Elektrofi for help on subcutaneous injectable therapies, while NAYA will merge with INVO and acquire two antibodies from Cytovia. Plus deals involving Hummingbird/Endeavor, Basilea/Gravitas/Intron, Lilly/Mablink and Sotio/Synaffix.

Commission pursued merger challenge to halt pharma practices it believes can stifle competition and keep drug prices high. Other large biopharma transactions may face similar challenges as FTC pursues its new merger program.