CTMC CEO Jason Bock talked to Scrip about the venture between MD Anderson and National Resilience, which provides manufacturing, process development and regulatory support for small cell therapy developers’ preclinical and clinical proof-of-concept studies. Meanwhile, Verge Genomics initiated a Phase Ib study of its AI-discovered drug for ALS; EyePoint and Aviceda dosed patients in their Phase II DME trials; Parexel teamed up with a non-profit cancer research group in Japan; and BARDA selected PPD to run its Phase II platform trial for ARDS.

Plus deals involving Biocytogen, Neurocrine and Ona, Aeterna Zentaris/Ceapro, Teva/Biolojic Design, Pathos AI/Rain Oncology, Inhibitor Therapeutics/Johns Hopkins and more.

Private Company Edition: Playground’s third fund has $410m for tech, including biotech, Pivotal Life Sciences closed its second fund with $389m and Chugai will invest $200m through its new fund. Also, Tome launched with $213m, Sudo raised a $116m series B and Odyssey closed a $101m in series C.

Public Company Edition: Follow-on offerings did not surge after ASCO, but Day One and Cogent raised $150m-plus. Also, IQVIA and Ionis sold $1.25bn and $500m in notes, while Krystal and Lexicon grossed $160m and $125m from post-approval offerings.