Given the cyclical nature of the biotech industry, companies--both public and private--are forced to weather financing storms every few years. During lean times, one strategy is to cut operations to create the basis for a financing event and stave off the inevitable cash cliff. But a company focusing all its efforts on one, or at most a few, projects has very little to fall back on should its lead opportunity fail. And the equity markets may not come back in time. BioTransplant's CEO-Donald Hawthorne, brought in to save the company, understood from the beginning that companies with just a few months of cash left tend to fail. His challenge: to avoid failure, while at the same time maximizing the chance that in the event of bankruptcy, at least some of the assets of the company could create additional value.

In Vivo summarizes the technology of several recently founded companies: Germany's Curacyte AG was formed to commercialize platforms in oncology, immunology and hematological disorders; Eliance Biotechnology Inc. has licensed a vaccine discovery platform that identifies the optimal antigens for vaccine production; Immerge Biotherapeutics will focus on the development of swine-based cells, tissues and organs for transplantation into humans; MedLynx Corp. aims to reduce hospital operating costs and reduce medical errors with its wireless, handheld medical information management system; Perlegen Sciences Inc. will read genomes from 50 individuals to discover and analyze patterns of genetic variation; Protiva Biotherapeutic Inc's gene delivery technology protects plasmid DNA from degradation as the particles are delivered through the bloodstream to their destination