Survey: Health Care Investors Identify Areas of Strength in Midwest; Medical Devices Seen as Regional Sector Strength; Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis Lead Region.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A BioEnterprise survey of venture capital firms from across the United States released today found increasing interest by investors in health care technologies developed in the Midwest. The survey, conducted over a 10-day period beginning July 26, asked respondents to offer their impressions of Midwest health care investment opportunities and regions. Among its findings:

--Venture capitalists rate the performance of their Midwest investments as equal to those in the rest of the country and they consider the region's bioscience strength to be in medical devices. About 50 percent of investors rated medical device deal flow as "strong" or "very strong" and a majority said deal flow from the Midwest is increasing.

--Health care services and IT opportunities were rated by 68 percent of investors as average, while biopharmaceutical offerings were considered weak by 67 percent of respondents.

--Within the Midwest, the Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and St. Louis regions have the strongest overall reputations among the health care investors. The middle tier consisted of Chicago, Wisconsin, Detroit-Ann Arbor, and Indianapolis. Cincinnati and Kentucky were rated lower for quality of deal flow.

--Ratings changed only slightly when adjusting for investors' areas of focus within health care. For example, those funds that plan to dedicate more than 50 percent of their investments in health care services and software, rated the top regions for deals as Minneapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland. For biopharmaceutical focused funds, the top-rated regions were Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Indianapolis. Interestingly, Chicago was ranked last among all regions by the biopharmaceutical focused respondents.

"Given the respondents' knowledge and depth of health care and Midwest investments, the survey provides insights on the Midwest's areas of strength, both in types of opportunities and specific geographies," said BioEnterprise President Baiju R. Shah. "What is encouraging is that nearly 60 percent of the respondents felt that deal flow from the Midwest has been increasing, and nearly 90 percent indicated interest in expanding their Midwest activity. That bodes well for continued growth in health care venture investment across the Midwest."

Forty-seven (47) national venture investors, almost all of whom have significant health care focus within their funds and are active in the Midwest, completed the survey. BioEnterprise plans to conduct the survey annually. Complete survey results and analysis can be viewed at http://www.bioenterprise.com/reports/reports.html.

About BioEnterprise

BioEnterprise is a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration effort designed to support the growth of bioscience companies. Located in Cleveland, BioEnterprise provides management counsel and support services to bioscience companies. BioEnterprise's partners are Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, University Hospitals Health System, Inc, and Summa Health System. Additional technology partners include the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland State University, OMERIS, and NorTech.

The BioEnterprise Initiative comprises the collaborative activities of BioEnterprise Corporation, Case Research Institute Office of Technology Transfer, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, and Summa Enterprise Group. The combined efforts of these groups has created, recruited, and accelerated more than 30 companies in two years.