100 percent equity, zero debt and fast growth are what characterize our business and explain why VCs around the globe are much less affected by the financial crisis than other financial institutions. For sure, it will become harder to exit a company during the remainder of 2008 and into 2009. But our portfolio companies are well financed and are able to continue their growth, backed by capable investors with closed-end funds.

There are three reasons why I continue to be optimistic about Life Sciences business, in particular:

• Independently of the ups and downs of the general economy (which affect healthcare to a much lesser extent than other industries), we are seeing a rising need around the globe for better treatment, diagnostics and medical technology as people get older and become more aware of their health.
• As big pharma companies have expressed their need to fill their pipelines, they are being forced to collaborate with our clientele, young innovative biotech companies. So we might even see some more spectacular M&A activities in the coming months, such as the complete takeover of Genentech by Roche and of Imclone Systems by Eli Lilly. Nor will the leading medtech players cease to augment their product portfolios with innovations that have been created at start-ups.
• At the same time, tight healthcare budgets all over the world are embracing efficient methods of detecting and treating diseases as early and as non-invasively as possible. Innovative diagnostics and medical technology will benefit from this development, along with novel, more targeted therapeutics.

In recent months, we at Wellington Partners Life Sciences have been putting greater emphasis on investments in the diagnostic and medtech area, as we see excellent opportunities in this field. Young companies, with tight budgets in their minds, are developing and marketing innovative products that improve the situation of the patient while simultaneously reducing treatment costs. These kinds of win-win situations are going to find their markets, whatever the state of the economy might be.