Date: Sep 27, 2012 Author: John Carroll Source: Fierce Biotech (
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The Wall Street Journal has put together its list of the top 50 venture-backed companies most likely to do great things. The good news is that Achaogen, a San Francisco-based antibiotics company, and Acceleron, the Cambridge, MA-based tissue- and muscle-building company, are both on the list. The bad news is that they're the only two, while healthcare in general has been increasingly eclipsed by some business-product outfits alongside some snazzy online ventures like Cheezburger.
Business tech's surge has clearly begun to outshine healthcare, notes the Journal, as this is the first year that healthcare has been elbowed out entirely in the top group of its most-promising companies list. Exhibit A: Pacific Biosciences, the sequencing fave which headed the first Journal list in 2010, has since dropped out of favor.
Only 5 healthcare-related companies made the list at all, compared with 8 last year. But two medical device companies, Glaukos and NeuroPace, both jumped higher in the rankings.
All the companies had raised a substantial amount of venture cash, one of the criteria for being included. Achaogen--number 35--has raised $103 million and the Journal cites the antibiotics outfit for winning substantial support from the NIH and the Department of Defense. Acceleron comes in at number 48, with a hefty $307 million in venture support and a slate of mid-stage data due out next year.
It could have been worse, though. Energy was shut out of the rankings this year as the troubled industry grapples with some big issues.
Read more: Biotech stars make WSJ's list of top startups as healthcare lags - FierceBiotech http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/biotech-stars-make-wsjs-list-top-startups-healthcare-lags/2012-09-27#ixzz27g6BUOLL
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