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.

A re-start of DirectGene Inc., Advagen Inc. will marry its gene therapy for prostate cancer to newly in-licensed IP covering small peptide ligands with an affinity for the PSMA receptor. The company believes its new platform will greatly enhance adenovirus targeting and facilitate systemic delivery of gene therapies for a variety of cancers.

Intradigm thinks its synthetic vectors can help target-rich companies cull functionally relevant ones from the stacks of things they've discovered.

{In Vivo} summarizes the technologies of several recently founded companies: Netherlands start-up [BioMaDe BV] will use nanotechnology to design and construct molecular devices for use in a variety of commercial applications. [DirectGene Inc.] is developing a tissue specific gene promoter technology for cancer gene therapy, based on the role of tumor-stromal interactions. [Esurg.com] will sell medical, surgical and pharmaceutical supplies and information to out-of-hospital healthcare providers. Founded in June 1999, [ImmunoGenec Biotechnologie GmbH] aims to develop, produce and market protein-based therapies for the immunotherapeutic treatment of certain cancers. [Quorex Pharmaceuticals Inc.] will discover anti-infectives using its discovery of a novel signaling pathway that occurs in wide variety of pathogenic bacteria. A joint venture of Rohm & Haas Co. and Argonex Inc, [RHeoGene LLC.] is developing enabling gene tools based on its proprietary Ecdyosyne Recepter-based gene switch system.