Private Company Edition: The pre-J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference financing news deluge during the first week of 2021 included several significant venture capital deals, including a $226m series B round for Affinivax, Ikena’s $120m series B round and an $88m series A round for Aro.

NIH’s National Cancer Institute licensed two experimental cancer therapies in the past month to biopharma firms, leading a heavy slate of cancer-focused tech transfer deal-making.

Private Company Edition: VC deals fell short of the record-breaking level seen in 2018 and financings may slow a bit more in 2020. Also, UPMC and Frazier close new VC funds, and Emendo raises $61m for gene-editing platform.

The firm reorganized to focus on hemoglobinopathies and cancers after Celgene ended a multi-drug partnership. Also, Flagship funds a gene therapy start-up and brings in a business development veteran, Ultragenyx raises $320m in a royalty deal and Paratek secures up to $285m from BARDA.