Zars Inc. aims to increase the effectiveness of transdermal drug delivery with its self-activated heated patch system called CHADD (controlled heat-aided drug delivery). CHADD works through oxidation and can be used to pulse, increase or decrease the amount of drug in the bloodstream. The company's initial market focus is pain management.

In New York, a leading expert in bowel surgery has established a center of excellence in minimally-invasive surgery that will serve as a training site for the second generation of more advanced procedures and as a laboratory for the most sophisticated MIS technology. To some skeptics, MIS, because of its broad consumer appeal and its divorce from academic medical settings, presents real challenges to the notion of centers of excellence.