Start-ups weigh benefits of corporate incubators

Three start-ups in January 2008 began their lives under the shelter of corporate incubators, as Biogen Idec welcomed its first tenant to its campus in Cambridge, MA, and Pfizer took in the second and third occupants at its designated space in La Jolla, CA. These types of incubators--relatively new to the biotech landscape--offer a stable beginning, but start-ups must be willing to pay the ultimate price: the parents provide space, expertise and capital in exchange for acquisition rights after two to three years. Any firm not purchased could be stigmatized as unworthy.