Biotech entrepreneurs tend to be an optimistic group, and there were many pockets of hope for 2024. However, the consensus remains that depressed valuations and paucity of fresh funds will continue to pose a challenge for the sector, and companies will need to prioritize carefully and work even harder to demonstrate and create value.

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

Private Company Edition: TCGX raises $1bn for its second fund, Goldman Sachs’ first fund totals $650m and Panlin’s biopharma fund grows. Also, Apollo’s series C increases to $260m, Avistone closes a $140m series B, OnCusp raises a $100m series A and HI-Bio grabs $95m in series B cash.

Public Company Edition: ImmunoGen received the first $75m under a $175m term loan, while Protagonist raised $100m in a follow-on offering, but companies with bankruptcy filings and job cuts outpaced those accessing new capital by a wide margin in late March and early April.