Each year, START-UP reviews the sectors of the medical device industry that received private funding to see what will be filling the pipelines of medical device companies in the future. Despite gloomy talk by VCs and strategics predicting a future scarcity of new innovative products, the actual data from 2012 show many categories holding steady and pockets of up-and-coming technologies attracting investment.

The Dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Elsevier's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

A roundup of recent medtech mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, and financings.