Today, a brief rundown of stock sales by Avidity Biosciences and Kymera Therapeutics, as well as a new partnership between Walgreens and BARDA that you may have missed.

Avidity Biosciences raised an additional $345 million by selling north of 8.4 million common shares at $41 apiece. The San Diego-based biotechnology company went public in 2020, and earlier this year raked in around $460 million through another stock offering. Avidity plans to use the fresh funds to further develop RNA medicines that are designed to combine the advantages of monoclonal antibodies and oligonucleotide therapies. The most advanced of these medicines is in late-stage testing for a rare muscle-wasting disease. — Jacob Bell

The U.S. office responsible for creating medical countermeasures to pandemics and bioterrorism is teaming up with Walgreens to increase innovation in decentralized clinical trials. According to the office, which is known as BARDA, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for telemedicine and remote clinical care services. As part of a program launched last summer, BARDA is now tapping Walgreens for a strategic partnership with two overarching goals: make clinical research more effective and relevant to different communities, and evaluate medical countermeasures in real-world environments that may be used in a public health emergency. — Jacob Bell

Merck and Co. is picking up an option for an antibody-drug conjugate under its partnership with Kelun-Biotech, according to a Hong Kong securities filing. The multinational pharmaceutical company is paying Kelun $37.5 million for rights to a bispecific antibody dubbed SKB571, which could be used to treat solid tumors in lung and gastrointestinal tumors. The Chinese biotech will retain rights to development and commercialization in China, Hong Kong and Macau. At the same time, Merck is returning rights to another ADC it licensed called SKB315 under the deal. Kelun is testing the latter ADC in a Phase 1 trial. — Gwendolyn Wu

Kymera Therapeutics said Monday it brought in $225 million via a stock offering of common shares and pre-funded warrants priced at approximately $41 apiece. The cash will help fund its plans to develop targeted protein degraders, one of which is in development with Sanofi and undergoing Phase 2 trials for atopic dermatitis and hidradenitis suppurativa. Two others are in Phase 1 trials for cancer. It’s the second stock sale this year by Kymera, which raised $275 million in January. — Gwendolyn Wu

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