In the past two years, Inverness Medical Innovations has paid a total of roughly $500 million to buy five rapid point-of-care (POCT) diagnostic testing businesses, which now lie at the heart of its effort to expand in the POCT realm. These have laid the ground work for four subsequent transactions and related financings, all aimed at making Inverness a world leader in women's health and pregnancy testing. But what's of interest isn't so much the women's health play per se as the company's management tream, which has twice before built up POCT companies, then sold them for significant premiums.

In Vivo presents another installment of our quarterly review of dealmaking--in this case October to Decemeber 2001. Our data come from Windhover's Strategic Transactions Database. We include medical device financings by deal type; diagnostic financings by industry segment; pharma and biotech alliances by therapeutic category and industry segment; pharma and biotech financings by market segment, and pharma and biotech M&A.

Genosis Ltd. is developing both male and female fertility tests, which couples can use at home to help identify reproductive disorders at an earlier stage, allowing those who need in vitro fertilization to progress onto it more quickly, with better results.