Private Company Edition: Nine new venture capital mega-rounds include Insilico’s series C, $250m from Blackstone for a CAR-T therapy spinout from Intellia and a $210m series B round for Umoja.

Taysha gains control of GAN candidate and program; BI licenses COMT inhibitors from Lieber Institute; plus three new gene therapy-driven tie-ups between biopharma and academia.

Private Company Edition: Immunocore’s $130m round kicked off a series of $100m-plus venture capital deals, including financings for Xilio, Akouos and Pliant. Also, VC investment in cell and gene therapies surged in 2019 and MPM launched two funds with $126 for early cancer research.

IN an effort to forge earlier and stronger ties to venture-backed biotechs, the new Merck Research Venture Fund illustrates the lure -- and the limitations -- of strategic pharma-VC relationships. Merck has endowed the MRVF with $250 million and the fund will make a series of investments in life science venture capital firms around the globe. Simultaneously it has also staked a second fund, the Global Health Innovation Fund, with an additional $250 million to invest in later-stage companies outside of the drug area.