Private Company Edition: Two companies raised multiple hundreds of millions of dollars each helping to keep the number of $100m-plus venture capital mega-rounds on the rise in May. Also, Ascend raised $132.5m to make gene and cell therapies, and Nido emerged with $109m for neurological diseases.

CMS proposed rule impact may be ‘modest’ but is framed as ensuring patient access to cutting edge treatments by helping to control Medicaid spending. Biden administration initiative also aims to address misclassification of brand drugs, duplicative 340B discounts, and PBM spread pricing.

In the private market, eight Chinese biotechs raised a combined $116m in deals backed by venture capital and private equity firms over the past few weeks.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds of $100m or more held steady in April after a slow January and February then a surge in March, but VC fundraising is down overall this year. In recent raises, Enveda series B expanded to $119m, Vedanta brought in $106.5m and Convergent raised $90m.