In February, Jounce’s future looked bleak after the failure of vopratelimab and fears that its finances would run out. Now, it has two suitors with Concentra making a bid to compete with an all-stock merger with the UK’s Redx.

When the traditional fundraising window closes and clinical, regulatory or commercial success eludes, other routes to raise cash emerge. But these have also become more scarce recently, leaving all-stock consolidations.

With cash preservation in mind, Rubius will dissolve, while EQRx, Impel, Cybin and Graphite cut jobs. Meanwhile, Jounce is restructuring and it plans to merge with Redx, yet the dually troubled firms MEI Pharma and Infinity will combine, while VBL will disappear in a reverse merger with Notable Labs. 

After a rollercoaster of a journey to date, UK firm Redx unveiled plans to merge with US biotech Jounce in a deal that would create a $425m transatlantic company with a robust cash runway through to 2025.