Merck & Co. closed a $10 billion acquisition of Verona Pharma, adding a fast-growing COPD candidate to its cardio-pulmonary disease pipeline. The deal hinges on Verona’s lung drug patent portfolio, including secondary patents following expiration of the primary patent in 2020. The acquisition forms part of Merck’s broad strategy to strengthen its respiratory drug offerings. Concurrently, multiple initiatives have launched in computational biology and gene therapy realms, including the Arc Institute’s Virtual Cell Challenge and promising AAV-OTOF gene therapy for hearing restoration.