Baxter International's corporate venturing unit was also joined by existing investors, bringing its total venture funding to $8.4m.

US-based Genocea Biosciences has raised $30m in Series C capital from a joint venture syndicate including Polaris Venture Partners and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Big Pharma backed Bio-tech firm Synovex has reached the halfway mark for a planned $7m Series C round.

Germany-based biotech Affimed Therapeutics has closed it's Series D round, led by return backers Novo Nordisk, at $20m.

Other stockholders in the US-based antibody research company backed by Mitsubishi, include MPM BioVentures (17.72%), Sofinnova Ventures (11.86%), Alloy Ventures (11.19%), and Fidelity Ventures (9.71%).

Takeda has snapped up US vaccine development company LigoCyte for $60m cash plus possible future earnouts.

Medical technology company Medtronic has acquired orthopaedic device manufacturer Kanghui Holdings for $816m.

US-based biotech company Celgene collaborates with MedImmune Ventures-backed VentiRx Pharmaceuticals on development of cancer immunotherapies in blood, receiving options to both acquire equity as well as buy the company.