Celltech's shareholders should be delighted with the price of UCB's acquisition, since the company probably could not have otherwise secured the kind of alliance it wanted for its flagship product. But UK biotech has sustained a severe blow, losing its only truly liquid biotech. Meanwhile, in suggesting that late-stage deal prices may be reaching their upper limits, the deal sends a wake-up call to other mid-sized European pharma. It's time to leverage shareholder, cash and size differences with Big Pharma to recast Euro-focused primary-care operations into higher profit, albeit higher risk, specialist businesses.

In assessing the sixteen biotechs making their public debuts over the past six months, investors clearly favor companies specializing in development, not discovery. What's more, investors especially prefer those development firms with late-stage products, lots of cash, and possibly even a sizable out-licensing deal.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.