A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, Orphan Drugs, features profiles of Amicus Therapeutics Inc., Myomatrix Therapeutics LLC and Vipogen LLC. Plus these Start-Ups across Health Care: Advagen Inc., Aviva Biosciences Corp., Gene Network Sciences Inc., Hypnion Inc. and Savacor Inc.

Myomatrix is the creation of a heart transplant cardiologist with a mission of preventing his patients from developing transplant vasculopathy, the most common cause of late heart graft loss a year or more after a heart transplant operation. But the start-up's kinase inhibitors have application to much larger diseases as well, including congestive heart failure and angina.

Now 20 years old, the Orphan Drug Act still provides an attractive development option for industry, as typified by the start-ups profiled in this issue.