Private Company Edition: The industry raised $28bn in venture capital through the third quarter, breaking the record $27.4bn raised last year. Also, big pharmas backed a start-up lab in Israel, plus mega-rounds for CinCor Pharma ($143m) and Rectify Pharmaceuticals ($100m), while Cerecin raises $40m.

BioMed X teams with J&J on inflammation, drug delivery research. Stem cell firm Calidi inks licensing deals with U. of Chicago, City of Hope and Northwestern. MD Anderson teams with Blueprint and Hummingbird.

With gene therapies for sickle cell disease looming and two new expensive therapies of to a slow start, access challenges could prevent a large portion of patients from receiving treatment, a report from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concludes. The report urges development of new payment models, offering five ideas.

Data for new genetic methods to tackle severe hemoglobinopathies presented at the EHA meeting bring more confidence for bluebird’s gene therapy LentiGlobin and early suggestions of a functional cure with CRISPR gene editing with CRISPR Therapeutics/Vertex’s CTX001.