Mr. Leonard: I cover the life science tools and diagnostics group. These are companies that provide tools and services to understand chemistry and biology, and apply this understanding to both drug development as well as clinical diagnostics.
TWST: What are some of the big issues for this group right now?
Mr. Leonard: In the tools group, the big themes would be that large pharma R&D budgets are under pressure, and the large pharma R&D pie actually shrank in 2009. But in 2010 this pie probably won't grow, but I don't think it's getting any worse. The funding environment for small biotech companies, those companies that burn cash, is actually getting a little bit better following a very poor 2009 and late 2008. Also academic and government-sponsored research support could be improving worldwide. You not only have the NIH stimulus in the U.S., but you have some science stimulus programs happening around the world in places like France and Germany. And it looks like the Japanese science spending is actually improving a bit and showing the first signs of life in a long time.
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