Technologies for total joint repair, the backbone of the orthopedics industry, have occupied most of the development resources of orthopedic companies, but there are gaps in the continuum of care when it comes to tendon and ligament repair. ACL reconstruction and rotator cuff repair thus are attractive niches for start-ups, worth anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion. Soft tissue repair expertise is outside the core skill-sets of big ortho, but those companies have been willing to partner and acquire smaller innovative players. Today, the opportunity is even more attractive; sports medicine--the realm of soft tissue repair--enjoys an economic resiliency not seen in total joint replacement. Ligament tears more closely resemble trauma applications, which must be treated as soon as possible.

Some industry executives argue that the real winner in the battle between Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific for Guidant was Abbott, who came away with a bulked up interventional cardiology business and what promises to be the next big winner in drug-eluting stents. John Capek played a major role in growing Guidant's business and, post-sale, helped guide a successful integration within Abbott. Now, he's running all of Abbott's medical device businesses.

Each month, Start-Up presents a survey of technology transfer deals--licensing agreements between companies and universities or other research institutions--in the fields of life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents.

Why are fewer drugs obtaining market approval in recent years? The answer is likely complex, but toxicology issues may be part of the problem. Solidus Biosciences aims to provide pharmaceutical companies with the tools it needs for early stage tox screening. Its MetaChip, short for Metabolizing Enzyme Toxicology Assay chip, is a high through-put biochip capable of screening compounds for their toxicological and metabolic properties in a single test run.