Week in Review: M&A Trends and MedCity Converge Conference in Philadelphia
Posted by | July 13, 2012
We’ve made it past the halfway mark of 2012, giving us a chance to look back and review how the year is shaping up so far. GenomeWeb had this in mind, and recently spoke with Safeguard’s Gary Kurtzman to review M&A trends in the genomics and molecular diagnostics market.
According to Gary, the first half of 2012 has been lackluster, but this isn’t surprising news. Concerns about the healthcare market and worries about reimbursements and regulation have proven to be barriers to acquisitions. But this doesn’t mean we’re seeing a lack of innovation. Instead… smaller and faster technologies are creating new markets and opportunities.
And there are some promising sectors out there where innovation is thriving. At MedCity News’ CONVERGE conference this week in Philadelphia, Gary moderated a panel entitled, “Convergence Worth Investing In,” that focused on the most promising sectors in healthcare convergence that have been demonstrating such innovation. The one-day summit on healthcare innovation and convergence brought together more than 300 people across the entire healthcare ecosystem to talk about innovation, collaboration and the way technology is changing every aspect of healthcare. Researchers, executives, entrepreneurs, and advocates discussed the future of the industry, innovation challenges, and the digital health movement. For its inaugural conference, MedCity News did a great job! We look forward to sponsoring and partnering with them again in the future.
Now, moving on to what some of our partner companies have been up to:
- USA TODAY featured Beyond.com and CEO Rich Milgram in an article about the challenge of finding qualified candidates for high-skill jobs. USA TODAY cited a Beyond.com survey and spoke with Rich about the poor communication between HR and viable candidates.
- Mass High Tech mentioned Good Start Genetics in an article about the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which opened its 2012-2013 Accelerator Loan Program. Good Start paid back the MLSC loan early with interest.
- MediaMath‘s Erich Wasserman, co-Founder and General Manager, EMEA was interviewed by TheMediaBriefing to discuss falling CPMs in online display and raising prices through optimization. Here is the video interview on YouTube:
- John George from Philadelphia Business Journal reported that NuPathe believes it has successfully completed all CMC and development work needed to address the FDA’s questions related to the company’s new drug application for its migraine headache treatment.
- ThingWorx was featured by Technically Philly, detailing the company’s partnership with Smart Structures to provide real-time alerts on infrastructure such as bridges.
To reach more of our Week in Review series, please use the following feed: safeguardscientifics.com/WeekinReview. Have a great weekend!
