The idea that venture capital has returned to the marketplace in order to finance life science companies, and particularly device companies, is simply not true, says Dr. Tom Fogarty, world renowned inventor and entrepreneur and most recently founder of the Fogarty Institute for Innovation, where he develops life science companies, in Mountainview, California.

Actually, Dr. Fogarty’s description of the non-presence of venture capital in the marketplace was a bit more descriptive, but I am not quite sure what the standards are for making reference to bovine excrement.  He delivered his remarks at today’s Medtech Showcase conducted in Boston by MassMEDIC.

Other gems:

            The problem with FDA clearance procedures is that the examiners belong to a union and do what they want to do.

            Corporate investment in life science is impeded in that large corporate investors give new technology to their own in-house people to evaluate; new technology that is better than in-house technology will not get funded on that model.

            Academics are no good at commercializing their technology, particularly in medicine.

Next week I will post a series of blogs on other take-aways from the MassMEDIC Showcase, covering a variety of subjects (new funding available through Massachusetts Life Science Center; the state of medical device M&A; the state of medical device IPOs; relative strategies for med device reimbursement in the United States as compared to Europe; a fascinating panel on why medical devices cannot seem to attract investment capital as easily as biotech).