A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, Anti-Angiogenesis, features profiles of Cell Matrix Inc., Kereos Inc., MBT Munich Biotechnology GMBH, Oncology Sciences Corp. and Pivotal BioSciences Inc. Plus these Selected Start-Ups across Health Care: CardioVention Inc., MedEView Inc. and XenoPort Inc.

MBT Munich Biotechnology is developing cancer diagnostics and therapeutics that it hopes will allow early tumor detection along with localized, lower-dose and safe cancer treatments. Its technology is based on the encapsulation of different compounds into positively charged liposomes that it calls "catioms."

Anti-angiogenesis as a treatment for cancer was hardly a new concept, even in 1998 when a New York Times article first put Judah Folkman's work on the public map. Although the hype has died away, the industrial machine of anti-angiogenesis has continued to roll on--as indicated by the start-up activity we describe in the following profiles.

The French government's efforts to encourage biotechnology have been modest and somewhat piecemeal. Yet two years ago, France's industry was nevertheless ranked second in Europe. Since then, the explosion of biotech companies in Germany, along with steady growth in other European markets, make the need for a coherent French strategy more urgent. France needs to take some bolder, more generous measures--particularly to reduce companies' tax burden and attract talent from overseas--without which it risks restricting itself to a small group of companies, many of whom will have to move elsewhere to grow substantially.