This week, Illumina’s board added two independent members; the VA and the FDA agreed to collaborate on supply chain issues; and Think Surgical, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Blue Earth all landed FDA clearances.

News we are keeping an eye on this week includes the FDA’s first traditional market authorization for a COVID-19 test and its approval of a new neurological diagnostic. The agency also updated its device shortage list and revised mammography guidelines.

ARCH closed a $3bn VC fund to end the month of June while in the same week six public biopharma firms said they are cutting jobs. Even so, some publicly traded companies have been able to launch sizeable offerings, including a $450m note sale by Cytokinetics and Xenon’s $250m follow-on. 

Private Company Edition: In other venture capital mega-rounds, Aurion brought in $120m, Sionna launched with $111m and Irish firm Renexxion said a private equity group committed up to $100m in total investment to be made within 36 months of a future public listing.