MD Anderson teams with Eisbach on precision oncology and with Yingli on a five-year translational research effort. Moffitt inks tie-ups with Dyve and Turnstone.

Medtronic is leading the race to get an artificial pancreas to market, and by this time next year the company could be the first manufacturer to reach the finish line. The achievement would be historic, but with a group of established and young companies running about two to three years behind, Medtronic will have to continue to improve on its offerings to maintain its impressive dominance.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, a premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding column provides a comprehensive monthly review of emerging life science companies that have received venture funding, including companies within the In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals sectors. This month’s column covers deals announced August through September 2014.

The quest to bring an artificial pancreas to market has taken some giant steps forward recently, as major players continue to produce impressive data from clinical studies that measure the use of various insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), and algorithms. Improvements in CGM sensor technology have helped move AP research, and competition is proving to be a driving force on the road to producing a commercial product that could be within two or three years from reaching the market.