Olema launched this year’s 76^th US biopharma IPO. Also, investments in regenerative medicines reached a new high, Qiming closed a $1.2bn China-focused VC fund, D3 Bio led recent venture deals with a $200m round, and Bausch sold $2bn worth of notes to pay down near-term debts.

Plus deals involving Takeda/OrigiMed, Amcure/Hinova, AUM/Newsoara, Taiho/Lung Therapeutics, 3D Medicines/Aravive, HitGen/Baiyunshan, Dong-A/Jiangsu Hengrui, and Crescita/Juyou.

With seven COVID-19 treatment/prophylactic candidates lined up, India's Zydus Cadila is unleashing all it can to combat the disease. Meanwhile, the firm has also offered an update on the state of its injectables and transdermals business in the US, which is contingent on resolving deficiencies at its Moraiya plant.

In a broad-ranging interview with Scrip, the ex-CEO of India's Hilleman Laboratories compares the profiles of leading COVID-19 vaccines and urges caution around how far some of the new data now rolling out should be interpreted. The executive also outlines solutions to tackle logistics issues and "vaccine hesitancy" in countries like India.