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Today, a brief rundown of news from Pfizer and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, as well as updates from Akeso and Inventiva that you may have missed.

Lexington, Massachusetts-based Triana Biomedicines has a big pharmaceutical partner in Pfizer, which has agreed to pay it $49 million to explore the biotechnology company’s work developing “molecular glue degraders.” Triana will identify promising degrader candidates for use in oncology, on which Pfizer will hold an exclusive option to license. Molecular glue degraders work by sticking together a protein target to cellular enzymes that mark those proteins for destruction. — Ned Pagliarulo

Former chairman and CEO of the investment firm Vanguard Tim Buckley will join Pfizer’s board of directors, the pharmaceutical company said Tuesday. His appointment expands the board to 14 members, 13 of whom are independent. Pfizer’s board is currently under pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, which is meeting with the company’s executive team on Wednesday.— Ned Pagliarulo

Treatment with Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ drug Zepzelca and Roche’s Tecentriq outperformed Tecentriq alone when used as maintenance therapy in people with small cell lung cancer. The data, from a Phase 3 study called IMforte, showed Jazz’s combination led to improved overall survival and progression-free survival versus Tecentriq. In a Tuesday statement, Jazz said it plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for an expanded approval for Zepzelca. — Ned Pagliarulo

An experimental gene therapy for Parkinson's disease has met the main goal of a small clinical trial, where it was shown to be safe, well-tolerated and not the cause of any serious side effects. The trial also explored whether the therapy was effective and, according to its developer MeiraGTx, there were encouraging signs. The CEO of MeriaGTx, Alexandria Forbes, said the results will "underpin" discussions with drug regulators in the U.S., Europe, and Japan as her company moves toward beginning a late-stage trial that could support approval. Shares of the company were up about 13% by late morning Tuesday. — Jacob Bell

China-based biotechnology company Akeso has raised $250 million through a private stock offering meant to fund international trials of its pipeline of antibody drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The raise announced Monday comes a month after development partner Summit Therapeutics disclosed data showing a drug Akeso discovered bested Merck & Co.’s dominant immunotherapy Keytruda in a Phase 3 trial. Since then, the market values of Summit and a number of companies developing similar types of bispecific antibodies for cancer have climbed sharply. Akeso now has more than $1 billion in cash on hand. — Ben Fidler

Mark Pruzanski, the former CEO of MASH drug developer Intercept Pharmaceuticals, is now chairman of another, Inventiva, just as the biotechnology firm receives $100 million or so in fresh funding. Inventiva announced Pruzanski’s appointment Monday alongside news of the funding, which it will use to complete a Phase 3 trial of its experimental MASH medicine lanifibranor. New Enterprise Associates, BVF Partners and Samsara BioCapital led the financing, along with eight other new and existing investors. Inventiva could receive up to $277 million more in additional funding tranches. — Ned Pagliarulo