Applying genomics technologies to drugs on market or in clinical development holds great promise. Drug companies can revive tired products by finding new customers, redefine the market for approved compounds, and design more effective medications. But the real commercial possibilities have yet to be tested.

Deal-making between universities and medical device companies has historically been limited. Not only are such deals often too pricey for device companies, the nature of medical device innovation--more likely to be incremental improvements than quantum leaps forward--gives physicians and entrepreneurs an edge over universities. But that may be changing, as this look at university/medical device deals in the first half of 1997 shows.