To stave off the sluggish growth in established markets, multinational medtechs not only are finding new business in countries with booming health care industries, but they’re also forging new ways to serve customers. Device companies now are pushing into services, such as disease management, and angling to compete more aggressively on pricing.

To stave off the sluggish growth in established markets, multinational medtechs not only are finding new business in countries with booming health care industries but they’re also forging new ways to serve customers. Device companies now are pushing into services, such as disease management, and angling to compete more aggressively on pricing.

A preview of the emerging health care companies profiled in the current issue of Start-Up. This month's profile group, Gene Delivery, features profiles of ImaRx Therapeutics Inc., Intradigm Corp., Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. and Tranzyme Inc. Plus these Selected Start-Ups across Health Care: FASgen Inc., Power Medical Interventions Inc., NephRx Corp. and Tessera Diagnostics Inc.

Although no one has yet developed a drug for kidney failure, researchers have long maintained the hope that reversing kidney failure is an attainable goal, because the kidney is one of the few organs in the body capable of regenerating. NephRx Corp. is one of this number of hopefuls; it believes its family of growth factors will repair damaged renal cells, and potentially also serve in degenerative gastrointestinal disorders.