Three big pharma and three major UK universities are working together to "find, fund and run academic drug discovery projects at a pharma quality level." The collaboration has had a productive first year with four programs underway, two more about to be finalized, and "a good flow" in the pipeline, according to CEO Dr Richard Butt.

In the past year, Puerto Rico formed a consortium of clinical trial sites, launched a funding program for entrepreneurs and created a technology transfer office – all achievements touted at the Biolatam biotech conference in San Juan.

Highlights from the Q2 2010 review of start-up dealmaking: Biopharma, medical device and in vitro diagnostics startups raised a total of $606 million, an 83% hike from the previous quarter but a 30% drop from Q2 2009. Unlike Q1, which saw four spin-offs, Q2 had just one. Three acquisitions closed including J&J's purchase of respiratory-focused RespiVert. During the second quarter of 2010, several companies signed multiple agreements including Clovis Oncology.

Growth by innovation is almost considered a birthright in interventional cardiology, and based on presentations at this year's Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting, held this September in San Francisco, it seems clear that innovation still reigns supreme in this specialty. However, as in other medical device markets, ongoing economic and regulatory pressures are taking their toll, particularly in the drug-eluting stent market, as the field adjusts to a new era of cost control and economic uncertainty.