Biotechnology Financing

I was recently at the MIT-Harvard Health Program information session where I met a few folks who are active participants in the Biomedical/Biotechnology/health care start-up industry. When I queried them about the state of the health care start-ups and the financing trends, the majority response was that getting financing for new ventures is going to be a very difficult task during the next year and a half. Folks were of the view that established start-up firms have a much better chance of getting follow-on financing than new entrants. When I asked them about what areas of health care research are emerging, most pointed to medical devices/technologies that addressed nerve-related diseases and efficient localized delivery of drugs. Prosthetic body parts is another biomedical area where a lot of development is being financed by venture capital. Overall, it was an interesting session where I got to learn about the latest advances in immunology and biomedical devices.