Plus deals involving Menarini/VenatoRx, Orion/Glykos, Roche/MOMA, Janssen/Elektrofi, Galapagos/BridGene along with 13 other transactions.

Pfizer feels that orphan products may present a particularly good area for testing wearable monitors and other digital devices as research tools. The small patient populations and fine distinctions in functional improvement or delay of disease progression may be ideally suited for the digital collection of data.

Biscayne and Japanese CRO SNBL create spin-outs to advance programs; liver disease specialist Ascletis gains funds as it shifts away from HCV; Neon gets $100m to put into its cancer vaccines; and other highlights of recent VC funding.

As scientific innovation in molecular imaging explodes, experts believe the big payoff will be in clinical, rather than research, applications. But absent validating clinical data, businesses remain hesitant to jump into the field.