Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds continue to add up, including recent financings for Connect Biopharma ($115m) and Synthego ($100m). Also, Civilization Ventures closed a new $35m fund and Triumvira launched with $55m.

Regulatory uncertainty could imperil the crop of emerging companies making a go of it in the incentive-laden US anti-infective space.

An FDA advisory committee review of quinolone antibiotic safety focused on a very old safety issue – but points to a new era in antibiotic development, and restricted use models.

Singapore-based MerLion is planning to take its lead development project, the antibiotic finafloxacin, into a Phase III program for urinary tract infections after Phase II results showed advantages over the current standard of care ciprofloxacin, along with rapid, broad activity and potential for the easy switching of patients from intravenous to oral dosing.