Each month, Start-Up presents a comprehensive review of young, private life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation & reagent sectors.

Public-private partnerships -- organizations formed with philanthropic funding to promote and/or manage R&D on orphan diseases -- say the time is right for public-good investing. Genomics is contributing to infectious disease drug discovery, but perhaps more important, the growth of an entrepreneurial biotech culture now makes it easier to move from basic research to product development, and to tap pharma's development expertise along the way.