Start-Up's monthly comprehensive review of emerging life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation and reagent sectors.

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, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, 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.

Every living organism is made out of chemicals, including proteins and nucleic acids, which use one chiral form; that is, they are either "left-handed" or "right-handed." It is this molecular design that allows the chemicals to perform precise biological functions. Noxxon's technology exploits this "handedness" by creating mirror-image molecules it calls spiegelmers (based on the German word for mirror, spiegel) by evolutionary design that bind tightly and specifically to known biological targets.