Summarizing the month in European dealmaking.

As a former head of discovery research at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc. (now Aventis SA), Jean-Bernard Le Pecq, PhD was accustomed to learning of new discoveries on a regular basis. But in 1997, one particular breakthrough in cell-to-cell communications caught his attention. Researchers found that small vesicles, known as exosomes, allow for the transfer of proteins to other cells. Le Pecq believed that exosomes could be used as a mechanism to develop innovative therapeutic vaccines and this idea ultimately propelled him to co-found Anosys Inc. in 1997.

Device start-ups are still rare in Europe. But now a combination of factors--new venture money, more receptive public markets, and a new generation of entrepreneurs--is making device company creation less exotic.

Uniting engineering with biology is the aim of IsoTis BV. The start-up has a portfolio of 33 patents all related to what the company terms "substitution medicine", the replacement or repair of human tissue.