Cancer deals involve City of Hope/Chimeric, CARISMA/NYU, Sorrento/Mayo Clinic, Rain/Drexel, Diaprost/Memorial Sloan Kettering, Alkido/University of Kentucky. Plus, research collaborations in brief.

Aspen Neuroscience, Pandion and iTeos raised $70m, $80m and $125m, respectively. Also, Glide Healthcare closed a €416m ($450m) fund; ElevateBio, Kallyope and SutroVax reveal VC mega-rounds; and Dragonfly adds new funding to its partnering proceeds. 

Three separate agreements team the innovative cancer research center with Takeda, Artios/ShangPharma, and Ziopharm. Hoth continues busy deal-making year by licensing gene therapy from North Carolina State.

VC deals totaled $8.3bn in the first half of 2019, but the year's total rose to just $11.5bn at the end of September, reflecting only a $3.2bn third quarter gain. Among recent financings, Cygnal emerged from stealth mode with $65m invested to date.