There's a reason why Philips paid $5 billion and a premium to buy Respironics. Sleep apnea is an enormous emerging opportunity: in the US, 38 million patients have the disease, and there are compelling clinical reasons to treat them. That's big business for device companies, if only they can access patients and establish new referral patterns in a highly fragmented market.

(Please see Start-Up, March 2008, for an expanded version of this article). Although the patient population is woefully undiagnosed, approximately 38 million in the US alone suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. There are a number of new technologies in development to improve on surgery and CPAP--traditional treatments for this silent killer--and device makers are casting about for wider markets in which to sell their goods. At its current rate of penetration, OSA will create close to a $3 billion worldwide market within two years.

PanCel is developing a device to take on the glucose-controlling function of the pancreas.