June 30 Quick Takes: Beam looks to complement Apellis; plus Intellia, Aerovate, Hutchmed, Spero-Pfizer and more

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) unveiled a five-year partnership with Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) to collaborate on up to six research programs against complement system targets, including C3, in the eye, liver and brain. Beam will conduct preclinical research, and Apellis has exclusive rights to license each program and assumes responsibility for subsequent development. Beam, which has the option to enter a 50-50 U.S. co-development and co-commercialization agreement, will receive $50 million up front and $25 million on the one-year anniversary of contract execution. It’s also eligible for development, regulatory and sales milestones, plus royalties. The collaboration, which comes on the heels of a stock surge fueled by in vivo editing data from Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA),  may be extended up to two additional years on a per year and per program basis. 

Following breakthrough gene editing data that sent its shares up 50% Monday, Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA) raised $600 million late Tuesday through the sale of 4.1 million shares at $145. The follow-on far exceeded the company’s proposed $400 million raise, and also exceeds the pre-overallotment $514.6 million raise in the NASDAQ portion of a $1.15 billion financing in February by argenx S.E. (Euronext:ARGX; NASDAQ:ARGX) that also included a private placement on Euronext. If Intellia sells its full overallotment, the $690 million total would surpass argenx’s $664.6 million as the largest NASDAQ follow-on of the year so far. Intellia shares touched an intraday high of $202.73 before ending the day at $161.91, a 7% gain...