Last year was a "banner" year for investment activity in the health care industry. Overall, in 2015, venture capital (VC) investment in health care hit a 15-year high, reaching roughly $59 billion. The picture was particularly bright for the biopharma sector, which saw record VC investment, even at the earliest of stages, along with increases in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The diagnostics and tools sectors lagged significantly behind biopharma in both of these measures. Silicon Valley Bank’s report, Trends in Healthcare Investments and Exits 2016, along with DTET interviews with analysts, point to some continuing investor concerns over diagnostics and tools sectors, but with some emerging signs of optimism. "The two things that are bothering almost everybody are a lack of certainty around reimbursement and the lack of certainty around regulation," says Harry Glorikian, a diagnostics industry consultant and director of the Diagnostics Marketing Association. "If you look at the proposed regulations and you look at your assay, you should have an idea where you fall, and hopefully you are planning ahead. But, ideally the FDA will put a stake in the ground so that investors and companies can understand the rules of engagement. We might not like them, but […]