Hungarian start-up Solvo Biotechnology is attempting to create therapeutics to treat multidrug resistance--a phenomenon describing a cancer cell's ability to resist the toxicity of chemotherapies. Solvo is developing compounds targeting molecular pumps that expel cytotoxic drugs from cancerous cells.

A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, New Approaches to Neurodegenerative Disorders, features profiles of Active Pass Pharmaceuticals Inc., Aegera Therapeutics Inc., Panacea Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Proteotech Inc. Plus these selected Start-Ups across Health Care: Amicas Inc., CFY Biomedicals Inc., MDISource and Visco Technologies Inc.

Neurodegenerative disorders represent a tremendous unmet medical need. Millions of people are affected by such diseases as Alzheimer's, Huntington's Parkinson's, MS and ALS, not to mention those suffering the neurodegenerative effects of stroke and spinal cord injury. And because many of these diseases are age-related, the already staggering numbers of patients will increase during the next several years as increasing life expectancies and changing demographics increase the percentage of older Americans. The market for neuroscience therapies is currently the fastest growing segment in pharmaceuticals, and is projected to become the leading therapeutic area within five years. Small wonder that new companies are entering the fray, hoping to capture a share of this multi-billion dollar opportunity as well as to finally offer a cure to the victims of these diseases.

A biotech start-up seeking to establish itself in the area of Alzheimer's disease (AD) faces the daunting task of competing in an arena already populated by a contingent of large drug companies that are expending considerable resources in the hopes of developing the sort of blockbuster product with which Big Pharma is so obsessed. But Peter Reiner, VMD, PhD, president and CEO of Active Pass Pharmaceuticals Inc., argues that his company can carve a niche for itself with a novel technology for treating AD that may also provide a platform for developing therapeutics in a number of other major disease areas.