Shares of Cellectis Therapeutics were up in trading after the gene-editing pioneer company forged a deal with Cambridge, Mass.-based Cytovia Therapeutics to develop immunotherapies based on gene-edited allogeneic CAR T-cells.

Merck

Merck & Co. Inc. was in talks with governments and companies to potentially help with manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines that have been already authorized.

AbbVie announced the company’s latest chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell investment, a collaboration with Caribou Biosciences worth $40 million up front in cash and equity to develop two CRISPR-edited cell therapies against AbbVie-specified targets.

Gilead Sciences inked a collaboration, option and license deal with Gritstone Oncology to create a vaccine-based immunotherapy as a cure for HIV.

After a start-of-the-year lull, activities at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are starting to pick up, according to BioSpace.

Amgen is partnering with Ann Arbor, Michigan-based EVOQ Therapeutics for a license and collaboration deal to discover and develop drugs for autoimmune disorders.

BeiGene

BeiGene Ltd. will partner with Swiss firm Novartis AG to develop, manufacture and commercialize the China-based biotechnology company’s cancer drug tislelizumab.

RNAi-focused Atalanta Therapeutics launched with $110 million in combined Series A funding and collaboration deals with Genentech and Biogen to address diseases related to the central nervous system, including Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Life sciences mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity totaled $159 billion in 2020, down from $306 billion in 2019, reaching one of the lowest levels since 2014, according to the 2021 EY M&A Firepower report

Durham, North Carolina-based Ribometrix announced a strategic collaboration deal with Roche company Genentech to identify and advance novel RNA-targeted small molecule therapeutics.