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

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 Elsevier's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

Among new technologies discussed at three major ophthalmology conferences this fall, it was the emerging field of laser cataract surgery that generated the greatest interest among attendees, although the first system is just now being launched commercially and there are many unanswered questions regarding the economics of this promising technology and how it will be adopted.

April's annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery took place against of the darkest market backdrops in memory. The mood at ASCRS was not all gloom and doom, however. Cataract and refractive surgery technology continues to advance and a number of new product were introduced at the meeting.