Focal Seals its Fate

Executive Summary

Investors in biomedical stocks are a tough crowd. They want to see current revenue streams and a pipeline of large-market products. Unfortunately, surgical sealant developer Focal Inc. provided neither to a sufficient degree. In early May, Focal agreed to merge into Genzyme Biosurgery in a stock swap transaction. The modest purchase price of $12 million bears witness to the fact that Focal simply did not do a good job of making the transition from a technology developer to a product manufacturer, at least not in the timeframe of investors.