CEO Pierre Belichard tells Scrip that the French biotech has enough cash and assets to prosper alone but it is also weighing up a reverse merger that would give Enterome a listing on the NASDAQ.

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. 

Nektar is hoping the combination of bempegaldesleukin and Opdivo could have better chances in kidney and bladder cancers, but analysts aren’t sure and see other IL-2 therapeutics as having better prospects.

Not only are larger firms acquiring smaller competitors or expanding portfolios by adding brands, private equity and venture capital groups accelerate buying into sector. The latest is New Mountain Capital-owned Aceto acquiring Biotron Laboratories and its Talus Mineral business.