Welcome to “The Pink Sheet” DAILY’s round-up of news and notes from the first full day of the 2014 J.P. Morgan health care conference, including chats with the CEOs of Elcelyx Therapeutics and Arecor, news from Juno Therapeutics and Galena Biopharma, and more.

BioVascular is a beneficiary of Merck KGAA's incubator program. launched to encourage start-up companies to develop Merck's shelved technologies. BioVascular gained rights to saratin, a protein originally isolated from leech saliva. Saratin's ability to reduce platelet adhesion and the complications that can arise from it give it a number of potential applications, but BioVascular's initial focus is on vascular surgery, specifically the prevention of intimal hyperplasia that leads to graft failure.

The cardiovascular drug marketplace has the dubious distinction of being the largest therapeutic category in terms of revenue, unmet need and mortality, while at the same time being the only area experiencing decreasing growth. Revenues will start to plummet starting in 2012 when the world's two largest CV drugs--Lipitor and Plavix--go generic. To help pharmas replace these and other aging drugs in their pipelines, Windhover's Therapeutic Alliances conference presents the "top 10" unpartnered clinical-stage cardiovascular programs.