Windhover's Commentary

On the Move (Company Changes and Promotions) (06/2009) (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries.

Deals in Depth: April 2009 (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

GSK and Pfizer set up an HIV joint venture--with assets worth $373mm--that combines 17 of their drugs and compounds. GSK also made news in M&As, making a significant investment in dermatology by acquiring Stiefel Laboratories for $3.6bn. In April, device firms raised $396mm, over $100mm more than their biopharma counterparts.

Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostics/Research Deal Statistics Quarterly, Q1 2009 (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Highlights from the Q1 2009 review of medical device and in vitro diagnostics/research dealmaking. Device financing activity remained down bringing in only $522 million--the majority invested through VCs, mostly via late-stage venture rounds--not much change from the previous quarter, but a significant drop from Q1 2008, which saw $920 million. Device M&A brought in $4.4 billion, double the previous quarter, but most of Q1's money came from Abbott's $2.86 billion purchase of Advanced Medical Optics. Four other transactions topped the $200 million mark, including three deals by device giant Medtronic, which grabbed cardio companies CoreValve, Ventor Technologies, and Ablation Frontiers. There was also a decline in in vitro diagnostics and research fund-raising with 2009's opening quarter only seeing about half the dollars of Q4 2008.

WuXi's Customer Focused Business Model Shows the Changing Relationship Between Drug Makers and CROs (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Beset by the hurdlesand dynamics of drug discovery, service providers have evolved from traditional vendors performing non-core support to their pharma and biotech customers, to becoming critical partners. WuXi has adapted quickly to seize new opportunities.

Illumina Goes Consumer (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Microarray and sequencing specialist Illumina has entered the consumer genomics game with a DTC personal genome sequencing service. It's distancing itself from regulators by partnering with others to handle any secondary data interpretation and dialog with customers, but cautious or not, by reaching out directly to the public, the move does turn on its head the traditional notion of first developing a technology tool for research, then moving on to more regimented clinical applications.

Intuitive Surgical Secures New Technologies (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

The economic meltdown that drove many publicly traded share prices into the ground promised to spark a shopping spree for strategic investors looking to score inexpensive assets. The deals largely haven't materialized, but Intuitive Surgical., with more than $800 million in cash reserves and investments, is certainly beginning to nibble. Over the past six months, Intuitive has signed three technology-sharing agreements and bought the assets of a fourth in pursuit of new technologies to help feed future products to sell along side-or potentially inside-its da Vinci surgical systems.

Best of the Blog: IN VIVO, May/June 2009 (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Our favorite blog posts related to stories not covered elsewhere in this month's IN VIVO.

Why Doesn't Pharma Get Smaller? (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Pharmas continue to diversify into lower margin businesses because CEOs and boards are betting on different requirements from a new system of health care delivery. They also figure their jobs will be safer. The choices: Is the likeliest avenue to growth through successful R&D, or through positioning appropriate for future health care delivery and payment systems? Bristol-Myers and Amgen have chosen the former - both because each is too small to diversify and because each believes it has a reasonable track record in innovation. Novartis and most other large pharmas want to take both roads at once--and are either dramatically expanding to enable product bundling or to give themselves enough time to prepare for what the health care system demands. Either way, the wild card of health care reform is making business strategy something of a crap shoot for companies both large and small.

Fred Khosravi & Amar Sawhney: Dynamic Device Development Duo (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Located on opposite coasts and with complementary skill sets, Fred Khosravi, founder of EndoTex, teamed up with Amar Sawhney, founder of Confluent Surgical, to form Incept, which has become a powerful device company creation engine. Using a unique formula that launches new companies building on previous successes, Incept has compiled an enviable record, starting nine companies in 11 years with three exits and no failures.

Interview with Amar Sawhney (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

In Vivo interviews device entrepreneur Amar Sawhney whose engineering background led him to Focal Inc. There Sawhney advanced important developments in sealant technology that eventually formed the basis of Confluent Surgical, the first company launched by Incept, Sawhney and fellow entrepreneur's Fred Khosravi's device incubator.

Interview with Fred Khosravi (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

In Vivo interviews device entrepreneur Fred Khosravi about his secrets for success in medical device company creation. Khosravi was part of the ACS organization that eventually became Guidant, where he was on the leading edge of the coronary stent revolution. That experience provided Khosravi with a broad background in interventional cardiology devices that was useful in starting his first company, carotid stent company EndoTex Interventional Systems (which was acquired by Boston Scientific) and several other successful companies.

AccessClosure: FDA Clearance--Yes; Product Launch--Not Yet (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Sometimes just getting FDA approval isn't enough. AccessClosure got FDA clearance of its PMA vascular closure device, only to delay the product's launch in order to develop an improved version. The company forestalled one-and-a-half years of revenue to address physicians' concerns and introduce an improved product. This was particularly wise in the field of vascular access closure devices, where previous devices have disappointed. The decision appears to be paying off as the company is seeing rapid adoption even though its product is priced at a premium.

Emerging Pharma Markets: Adapt, Diversify, and Persist (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Emerging global markets are a hot topic in pharmaceutical circles these days, but until recently, most Westerners viewed them as a homogenous cluster. Few executives at corporate headquarters drew distinctions among the various countries, let alone the domestic and international players in those markets. As big pharma bumps up against growth constraints in its traditional markets, however, interest in the "rest of the world" is perking up. The largest pharmaceutical companies are all looking at the same promising half dozen or so emerging countries, but they are taking radically different approaches to tackling them and are moving at different paces.

Millennium Prospers Under Takeda--But Will Takeda Get Full Value? (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

In losing its autonomy as an independently traded entity, Millennium has finally gained the freedom to become a larger player in the oncology space. One year after being acquired by Takeda, the biotech must no longer demonstrate to Wall Street regular quarterly earnings from Velcade, its only product, while trying to fund additional trials and build its pipeline. The success of this new business model fashioned by Takeda for its acquisition is still an open question, but it could provide a winning formula for Big Pharma companies in dire need of rejuvenated pipelines.

MAKO Surgical: Navigating Robotics in Orthopedics (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

All but dead a half a dozen years ago, MAKO Surgical is alive and well with an innovative technology platform that both embraces robotics and looks past it. Key to MAKO's strategy: a focus on unicompartmental knee procedures that are extremely difficult to do manually but, company officials hope, are significantly enabled by its robotic arm platform. If company officials are right, MAKO's robotics system could help explode the unicompartmental segment of the knee market without cannibalizing the total knee replacement segment. This year's AAOS meeting was a kind of coming out party for MAKO, whose major challenge now is convincing surgeons that robotics is more than just an intriguing gadget-it's a critical part of the surgical armamentarium

Business Development at Roche and Genentech: An Interview with Joe McCracken and Dan Zabrowski (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

What does Roche's privatization of Genentech mean for the companies' business development organizations and current and future partners? We recently sat down with the company's two business development chiefs to find out.

Selected Start-Ups (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

In Vivo briefly describes these recently founded companies: Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Beat BioTherapeutics, Fluoptics, Martell Biosystems, SynSonix, and Versartis.

Start-Up Previews (06/2009) (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, "Start-Ups Set Sights on Flu," features profiles of Alios BioPharma, Immune Targeting Systems, Marinomed Biotechnologie and Vivaldi Biosciences. Plus these Start-Ups Across Health Care: CardiAQ Valve Technologies, NKT THerapeutics, SPOC Inc.,and Sutro Biopharma.

On the Move (Company Changes and Promotions) (06/2009) (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

Recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries.

Deals Shaping the Medical Industry (06/2009) (IN VIVO)

IN VIVO

The dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Windhover's Strategic Transactions Database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

Valuation Watch: Anti-Infectives a Rare Bright Spot for Last Crop of Biotech IPOs (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Most of the 15 biotech IPOs in the US in 2007 have performed poorly on the public markets. There have been exceptions: Sirtris was acquired by GSK at a significant premium to its IPO price. And anti-infectives focused biotechs Pharmasset and Optimer have outclassed their peers as they have outperformed the market.

Xenia's Public-Private Blend Fosters Early-Stage Medtech (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Israel's Xenia Venture Capital is an early-stage technology incubator with an unusual model for getting medical technologies out of the nest and on the wing.

Adimab Inks Merck, Roche Deals and Banks on the Value of Discovery (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Adimab, the yeast-based antibody discovery biotech, has signed its first two alliances. In doing so the company revealed to Start-Up its partnering strategy, and discussed why it won't take a single step down the value chain into drug development. Can Adimab make discovery-only work where others have failed?

Can a Hippo Save the IPO Market for Life Sciences? (Start-Up)

Start-Up

A group of private enterprises are working to revive the moribund IPO market for venture-backed start-ups.

Max Planck Innovation Launches Early-Stage Fund (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Frustrated by the continued lack of early-stage VC funding for projects emerging from its laboratories, Max Planck Innovations GMBH is launching its own VC fund, DDC Ventures. The fund is just one component of an ambitious tech transfer initiative dubbed the "drug development center", which kicked off last year with the creation of a Lead Discovery Center in Dortmund, Germany.

Best of the Blog: START-UP May/June 2009 (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Our favorite blog posts from May and June related to stories not covered elsewhere in this issue of Start-Up.

Through the Palace Walls: Blood-Brain Barrier Transport Technologies (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Delivering compounds across the blood-brain barrier remains the rate limiting step in brain-drug development, yet the problem generally gets ignored until it's too late. Several biotechs are bringing novel strategies to finding a solution, focusing especially on brain cancers. Success may open the floodgates of CNS drug development.

Blocking Potential Brain Metastases at the Blood Brain Barrier (Start-Up)

Start-Up

The flip side of facilitating drug delivery through the blood brain barrier is to figure out how bad actors such as tumor cells sometimes ease through it. A research team recently identified an enzyme that helps breast cancer cells do just that. Blocking its activity could help prevent metastasis to the brain, which occurs in some 15% of breast cancer patients.

In Vascular Disease, a Sustainable Model for Cell Therapy (Start-Up)

Start-Up

If there's one word that ought to sum up the goal of cell therapy today, it's sustainability. Certainly that's the hope of using living cells to restore health and function to diseased tissues so that they perform as the body intended them to. But more to the point, in today's tough financing environment for venture-capital-backed start-ups, sustainability is the watchword for companies facing 15- to 20-year development curves. Tissue-engineered three-dimensional organs are complex, decades-long projects. Embryonic stem cells are much simpler in concept but are far from a commercial reality. Between those two extremes of tissue-engineering, however, there exist some well-defined opportunities, notably in the treatment of blood vessel disease. Start-ups Pervasis and Cytograft are gaining clinical validation in those areas.

What Happens After the Device IPO? (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Investors love to remind everyone that IPOs are financing events, not exiting events. using the mantra to put off Judgment Day for their investments. So how have device companies fared after the recent spate of IPOs.

Start-Ups Set Sights on Flu (Start-Up)

Start-Up

The swine flu/H1N1 pandemic presents a lucrative opportunity for drug developers so Big Pharmas won't be the only firms to capitalize on the sudden multibillion-dollar opportunity. There's evidence that the pandemic is driving investors to flu-focused biotechs as well. In this issue, we profile four emerging companies that hope to reap the rewards of what should continue to be a promising fund-raising environment for potentially novel flu therapies.

Alios BioPharma Inc. (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Alios BioPharma aims to create an improved version of interferon--the only drug that could be considered a broad-spectrum antiviral--to help patients who do not respond well to currently marketed forms of the protein. Alios also plans to develop a small-molecule drug that can be given orally yet carry out a key function of the interferon response-degrading viral genomes. Such a drug could potentially treat influenza, hepatitis C and B, HIV, and a host of other viruses.

Immune Targeting Systems Ltd. (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Immune Targeting Systems is developing synthetic vaccines that target rapidly mutating viruses. Its lead product is a universal vaccine designed to target all potential seasonal and pandemic flu strains, including H1N1 and avian H5N1. Since ITS uses synthetic sequences, it does not have to rely on chicken eggs for production, thus eliminating a key bottleneck in conventional flu vaccine production.

Marinomed Biotechnologie GMBH (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Marinomed Biotechnologie, which derives drugs from marine sources, is eyeing both the OTC and prescription markets. The Vienna-based start-up has already launched its first product: an OTC nasal spray formulation of a drug based on a polysaccharide extracted from seaweed. The company has in vitro and in vivo efficacy data for this compound against seasonal influenza, suggesting that it may also have potential for treating pandemic flu.

Vivaldi Biosciences Inc. (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Vivaldi Biosciences is developing live attenuated vaccines with altered NS1, a gene critical to viral survival. The company's lead product is a seasonal influenza vaccine and it has early-stage programs in pandemic flu. Vivaldi views these flu projects as proof of concept that might enable broader applications in the hands of a larger company.

CardiAQ Valve Technologies (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Today, mitral valve repair and replacement procedures involve opening the chest and stopping the heart. Hence, many patients who might otherwise benefit from therapy are excluded because they are either too ill or not ill enough to justify the risk. A percutaneous mitral valve replacement system in development from CardiAQ Valve Technologies intends to significantly reduce that risk by using a catheter to deliver a new mitral valve.

NKT Therapeutics Inc. (Start-Up)

Start-Up

In therapies that target the immune system, T cells have become an important target because of the role they play in cell-mediated immunity, directing macrophages, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes towards invaders. But a subset of T cells, called natural killer T cells, may afford more precise control because they straddle both the adaptive immune system and the more generalized innate immune system that reacts more rapidly and non-specifically. NKT Therapeutics hopes to take that refinement one step further by focusing on a subset of NKT cells that don't vary from individual to individual. Moreover, the invariant T-cell receptor that they carry is identical in everyone.

SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept) (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Low back pain affects 80% of Americans and is a leading cause of disability. Yet even though soft tissues including muscles are the primary source of this pain, many physicians neglect them and focus instead on spinal vertebrae, discs and nerves. And in cases where muscles are considered, pinpointing the exact muscle that causes the pain is extremely difficult with today's conventional diagnostic methods. The muscle pain detection device from SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept) is noninvasive technology that uses electrical stimulation to diagnose muscle pain in any part of the body. The company believes its use will prevent many unnecessary spine surgeries that result in failed back surgery syndrome, which can occur in as many as 50% of cases.

Sutro Biopharma Inc. (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Scientists have long tinkered with cell-free methods of protein synthesis, but turning their lab bench discoveries into commercially actionable ones is usually a tedious affair that ultimately requires the return to traditional cell line development. Sutro Biopharma claims to have developed a speedy cell-free way of producing proteins that can swiftly shift from laboratory to commercial scale. Rather than packaging the process for widespread use by researchers, Sutro is seeking to collaborate with partners intent on creating biopharmaceuticals--ideally, companies interested in high-throughput protein engineering.

Emergings in Brief 06/2009) (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Brief profiles of these recently formed companies: Clovis Oncology, Martell Biosystems, SynSonix, and Versartis.

Teasing Out Mechanisms of Small-Molecule Kinase Inhibition (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Even as kinases remain a popular target in oncology for industry, two recent papers show how much we have yet to learn about how to interfere with these molecules. These most recent laboratory studies help explain the confusing observation that the very act of inhibiting a kinase with a drug can also "prime" phosphorylation of that target, which in some cases can actually enhance tumor activity.

On the Move: Who's Going Where in Biopharma and Medtech Start-Ups (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Recent executive-level hires and director appointments at venture capital firms and biopharma and medtech start-ups.

Recent Financings of Private Companies (06/2009) (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Each month, Start-Up presents a comprehensive review of young, private life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation & reagent sectors.

Recent Tech Transfer Deals (06/2009) (Start-Up)

Start-Up

Our monthly update on 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.

Free Speech 0609 (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

Comments from government officials, advocacy groups and Wall Street about health care reform, the Dollars for Donuts deal, and orphan drug prices.

Obamacare: The Politics of Health Care Reform Entering the Endgame (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

There are multiple political strategies playing out in Washington on health care reform that will directly impact the biopharma industry. In the end biopharma will trade margins for volume. The RPM Report makes predictions on what will make it into the final health reform bill.

The Long Shadow of HillaryCare (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

A common theme for reform advocates in 2009 is avoiding the mistakes that doomed the Clinton health care reform effort 15 years ago. The biggest lesson of all is that the consequences of failure would be critical to the Obama Administration.

Predicting Health Reform: A Quick Guide To What Will Be In-and What Won't (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

The health care reform debate is entering the critical phase. Here are our predictions for where the legislation will end up.

Margaret Hamburg: The Public Health Commissioner (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

An interview with newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

Fighting the Next Battle on Comparative Effectiveness: Creating Consensus Around Standards (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

The fight over comparative effectiveness research is taking place but the focus should be around creating standards.

Waking Up to REMS (Part 1): Don't Believe the Lack of Hype (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

FDA's top management can't be accused of overstating the importance of the agency's new drug safety tools. But sponsors need to wake up to the reality: the REMS are a critical fact of drug development and marketing.

Planning Ahead: REMS Enters VC Financing Calculations (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

Venture capital firms have added a new criterion to their definition of a successful drug development plan: a clear reading on the potential for post-approval marketing controls and a plan for how to implement those controls without a regulatory delay.

Putting the Dough in the Donut Hole: Big Pharma Hits the Sweet Spot in the Reform Debate (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

It's not often than any industry group voluntarily agrees to give up $80 billion in future revenues, but that's what the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America is pledging to do to in the context of the health care reform debate. There are a lot of details to work out, but this is a case where what is important is not what PhRMA is giving-but what it gets.

Dollars for Donuts: Inside the Key Elements of PhRMA's Health Reform Deal (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

The key part of PhRMA's deal with the Finance Committee is a double win for industry: assuring that closing the donut hole will be part of reform, and that PhRMA will get credit for a big part of the savings.

Obama on the Donut Hole Deal (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

Here are the remarks by President Obama after a meeting with AARP CEO Barry Rand on June 22. It is noteworthy that Obama introduced the agreement with the senior lobbying group: the donut hole discount plan is a much easier sale politically as a benefit for seniors than as a deal with the drug industry. Obama, however, is careful to highlight that industry's willingness to come forward with a deal demonstrates that the challenges to reform are surmountable.

AARP on the Donut Hole Deal (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

Here is an excerpt from the testimony submitted by AARP board member Jennie Chin Hansen about the donut hole deal, during a June 23 hearing held by the House Energy & Commerce/Health Subcommittee.

The House Ways & Means Committee on the Donut Hole Deal (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

The Democratic leadership of the House Ways & Means Committee issued the following press release June 22. Their health reform bill would close the donut hole over several years.

Enforce FD&C Act; Don't Stretch It (The RPM Report)

The RPM Report

The new FDA senior leadership duo of Hamburg and Sharfstein are sending signs that they are ready to find some object lessons for high-visibility enforcement actions. A former FDA chief counsel and Just Department chief of staff warn that the agency should pict its targets carefully. Enforcing regulatory priorities instead of regulatory law can get the agency into difficult situations.

Joint Arthroplasty's High-Tech Future (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

Despite orthopedic surgeons' conservative reputation when it comes to new technology adoption, high-tech devices are increasingly finding a place in this field. There have been recent developments in robotic computer-assisted surgery and other high-tech enabling tools that could lead to wider acceptance of these devices by surgeons better known in the past for eschewing such "frills." Although there are exceptions, most manufacturers seeking success in this market appear to have learned from the mistakes of the past, and many, instead of offering technology for technology's sake, are now trying to provide surgeons with what they really want - products that offer a value-added benefit to their practice.

Stroke Devices: Facing Challenges Head On (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

The International Stroke Conference, held in San Diego in February 2009, presented several device-based therapies and approaches that could offer improved outcomes for patients that suffer an acute ischemic stroke. The technologies discussed included mechanical thrombectomy devices, laser treatments, and combined therapy using ultrasound, microspheres, and thrombolytic drugs.

SAS9: MIS Hits Primetime (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

The Ninth Annual Symposium for the International Society for the Advance of Spine Surgery (SAS9), held this spring in London, welcomed almost 1,700 attendees, double that of 2008, and most sessions provided a spirit of optimism despite the harsh economic environment. Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) took center stage as applications widen and techniques improve, while facet joint replacement devices and materials to simplify revisions also drew crowds.

Market in Focus: Surgical Sealants and Glues (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

Over the past few decades, the wound closure market has seen the introduction of a number of new technologies, including a variety of surgical adhesives and glues for both external and internal use to hold tissues together and/or reinforce surgical suture or staple lines. These products address a market that encompasses over 73 million surgical wounds annually in the US alone and generated sales of over $367 million in the US last year, according to Medtech Insight's recently published report US Markets for Current and Emerging Wound Closure Technologies. The US market for surgical sealants and glues is growing at an annual rate of about 3.8% and is expected to reach about $443 million in sales by 2013.

Health Care Trends: Payment Bundling--The Future of Reimbursement? (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

A number of industry experts have long believed that any significant change in health care must be tied to reimbursement, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun a pilot project that will test that theory. Under a three-year plan called the Acute Care Episode (ACE) demonstration, five sites in the US have been selected to use a single, bundled-payment system for hospital and physicians services associated with 28 cardiac and nine orthopedic inpatient surgical services and procedures.

Market & Industry Briefs (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

Brief summaries of recent medtech market and industry developments. This month we cover new developments in the CRM industry, Barrx Medical's breakthrough on RF ablation for for Barrett's esophagus, and CMS' decision not to cover computed tomography colongraphy for colorectal cancer screening.

Deals Update (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

A roundup of recent medtech strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions and financings.

Clinical Edge (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

Brief summaries of recent advances in device research and clinical trials, including an implantable sensor designed to measure cancer progression and treatment, new findings on angiogenesis-suppressing genes that protect Down's syndrome patients from cancer, research that implacates two inflammation-related proteins in breast cancer outcomes, and stem-cell implanted contact lenses that repair corneal damage.

Start-Up News (Medtech Insight)

Medtech Insight

Noteworthy news from medtech start-ups. This month we profile Silere Medical, which is developing neurostimulation technology to suppress tinnitus, OrthoData, which makes an implantable diagnostic device to monitor spinal fusion, and ProTip, which is developing porous titanium devices for ear, nose and throat applications.