Genentech and Lodo will mine the soil microbiome to discover novel therapeutics. China’s Luye licenses commercial rights to AstraZeneca’s Seroquel franchise, while Sarepta picked up rights to gene therapy candidates from Myonexus, plus an option to acquire the company.

A bunch of UK biotech firms are in trouble, some forced to restructure and others to seek financing on miserably expensive terms. All wish they'd raised more money during the funding bonanza of 2000. Challenging times such as these reveal lingering cracks--and lack of experience--in strategy and business management. This suggests that UK industry, although it has matured significantly since the brutal blow to confidence dealt by a major product failure at British Biotech during the sector's tender early years, still has some way to go.

Germany's biotech investment has propelled a handful of companies onto the public markets a lot sooner than their US or UK counterparts. These German companies have followed aggressive acquisition strategies, most often buying into the US, sometimes using newly-minted Neuer Markt paper. Some are seeking through these acquisitions to both broaden their technology platform and acquire a product portfolio, hoping thereby to avoid the pitfalls of a narrow focus. It's too early to tell whether such a dual model will work. But the fact that Germany's young companies are finding their own approach to competing globally shows that the country's biotech initiative has already had some success.

The boom times are over in devices. Now venture capitalists vow to focus more on business fundamentals. Entrepreneurs say the same, while they increasingly seek start-up money from private investors known as angels.