18 Sep Biotech hit by a V.C. drought
From one perspective, the life sciences industry — the biotechnology companies that develop drugs and treatments to combat disease and the biomedical firms that create medical devices — is a picture of expanding horizons and confidence, The New York Times’s James Flanigan writes.
Young companies are taking advantage of advances in medical and computing sciences to develop new ways of dealing with intractable health problems.
One new company has developed a disposable device with software that would help surgeons to perform knee replacements with greater accuracy. Another has a microscopic device implantable in the eye that would continuously release medicines to alleviate glaucoma or macular degeneration.
Other companies have developed potential vaccines against staphylococcus infections and drugs to preserve cardiac function after a heart attack. Indeed, the biotech industry is spreading globally to India and China, where capital is abundant and research is increasing.
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