A flurry of deals, several with sizable upfront payments, has energized the biotech sector in March. On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s Paul Bonanos assesses last week’s deals by Merck, which is laying out $6.7 billion to acquire Terns, and Gilead, which is buying Ouro for about $1.7 billion up front. Gilead’s deal comes as the Foster City, Calif.-based biotech is looking to defend its position in HIV while resetting in inflammation and immunology and growing its oncolog...