Cause for cautious optimism: Life sciences venture capital investment rebounds, but deal volume declines

Companies in the Life Sciences sector, which includes the biotechnology and medical device industries, recovered in terms of dollar investments during the first quarter of 2011.
This quarterly summary includes data on where venture capital investments and funding were made, the nature of transactions that took place as well as the geographic distribution of funding for the biotechnology and medical device sectors during the first quarter 2011.

Some pertinent statistics included in the report are:

During the first quarter of 2011, the share of Biotechnology investments decreased to 57 percent, while the Medical Device industry’s share increased to 43 percent. Compared with the first quarter of 2010, the investment split remained unchanged.
During the first quarter of 2011, 35 Life Sciences companies received venture capital funding for the first time, capturing $129 million. This represents a sharp decline of 40 percent in the number of companies and a 46 percent drop in dollars invested compared to the first quarter of 2010.
Four of the seven Biotechnology subsegments exhibited growth in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the first quarter of 2010. Dollars invested in the Biotech Research, Biotech Industrial, Biotech Equipment, and Biotech Human subsegments rose 158 percent, 89 percent, 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively.