The gene therapy firm announced that Bristol terminated a collaboration started in 2015. Nona follows its recent alliance with Moderna with a second collaboration, this time with Dragonfly.

Private Company Edition: The amount of venture capital investment in biopharma companies has shrunk from quarter to quarter, but the average deal size remained high until the third quarter. Larger rounds from Treeline, Odyssey and Neumora offset a plethora of smaller VC financings early in Q4. 

During the second quarter of 2011, 57 medical device companies brought in a total of $1.7 billion in financings. The M&A activity reached $28.8 billion, unusually high due to Johnson & Johnson's $21.7 billion takeover of orthopedic device maker Synthes. VC funding represented $76 million or 43% of the second quarter's in vitro diagnostics/research financing aggregate of $177 million. A hefty $4.1 billion was spent on 11 in vitro diagnostic/research M&A transactions, the largest being Thermo Fisher's $3.5 billion buy of Swedish genetics testing firm Phadia AB.

The dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Elsevier's Strategic Transactions.