Several forces--rapid technological obsolescence, the impact of information technology on health care, merger integrations, and the need for double digit revenue growth--have caused increasing numbers of large pharmaceutical and medical device companies to create new corporate venture capital groups. But compared to traditional VC firms, whose only goal is to make money for limited partners, corporate VCs have a heavy agenda. They must choose portfolio companies while balancing often-competing goals of strategic benefit and financial return.

Having kept out of the race to develop a vaccine, Novartis has joined efforts with a collaboration using the AAV gene therapy vector.

Philips has added a Clinical Trials Accelerator functionality to the cloud-based HealthSuite digital platform, underlining its role in securely managing and collecting device and personal data for use by third-party clients seeking to build health care solutions.