Biotechs face funding hurdles

As politicians consider ways to use state money to fund high-potential start-ups, the former director of the National Institutes for Health discussed the "very challenging" fundraising environment in life sciences with state biotech companies Tuesday. Elias Zerhouni, who is now president of research and development for the large pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, said the system for developing new drugs is broken and requires a more open, smarter innovation network that includes scientists and others from industry and academia. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/23)