Britain's Medical Research Council has done a lot over the last decade to develop its technology transfer activities. Almost half of the 16 spin-off companies based on MRC research have appeared in the last two years. One important catalyst for this increase in spin-out activity was the founding in 1998 of a venture capital fund with priority access to companies based on MRC-owned technology, the UK Medical Ventures Fund/MVM Ltd. More recently, the creation of Medical Research Council Technology, bringing together three geographically distinct units involved in technology transfer, has led to a simpler, more efficient structure and better staff retention.

A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, Handheld, Wireless Healthcare Techology, features profiles of ePocrates Inc., LogonHealth Corp., MedCompanion Inc. and Pocketscript. Plus these selected Start-ups across Health Care: Cambridge Drug Discovery Ltd., MacroGenics Inc., Pan Pacific Pharmaceuticals Inc. and TissueLink Medical Inc.

Cambridge Drug Discovery was formed in 1997 by four Pfizer scientist who wanted to exploit expertise in assay development, high-throughput screening and informatics, to accelerate the drug discovery process. One of the company's discovery platforms is used to discover small-molecule modulators of G-Protein Coupled Receptors.