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, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, 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.

A group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory believes that a synthetic antioxidant previously shown to reduce apoptosis and enhance cell survival in vitro can ameliorate the symptoms of Huntington’s Disease – and beyond its neuroprotective effects, may even have disease modifying properties. They’ve published the first proof of concept in animals, aiming to bring the compound into human studies.