Ajax Therapeutics plans to take its type II JAK2 inhibitor into the clinic during the second half of 2024 with the aim of modifying disease in a way that first-generation type I inhibitors do not. 

Public Company Edition: Verona Pharma arranged up to $400m in new debt and up to $250m in revenue-related financing ahead of its COPD drug launch. Also, Organon, Sobi and Pacira priced $1bn, $275.1m and $250m note sales, respectively. Marinus, Emergent and Ginkgo cut jobs.

Incyte will pay $750m to acquire privately held Escient and its first-in-class oral antagonists of Mas-related G protein-coupled receptors X2 and X4.

Notable new drug approvals in South Korea last year included Pfizer’s Tukysa, Genentech’s Columvi and BeiGene’s Tevimbra, but the tally did not include any domestically-originated products. Alzheimer’s disease therapy lecanemab may be on the horizon this year.