From Business 2.0 "Talk about a reversal of fortune: Sales are booming, thanks to thalidomide, a drug banned for decades for causing birth defects. Celgene pioneered it as a top treatment for leprosy and multiple myeloma."

From Business 2.0 "Linux may be free, but Red Hat is making a killing from it. Last year the company added 51,000 customers seeking support for the open-source OS, and 99 of its 100 largest clients renewed."

From Business 2.0 "2005 was another banner year for Steve Jobs & Co., as Apple introduced the $199 iPod Nano and the $499 Mac Mini computer. The debuts helped add $6.4 billion to sales without putting a dent in profit margins."

From Business 2.0 "When the iPod's success cut into its sales of memory chips to makers of MP3 players, SanDisk started making its own. It's now the No. 2 U.S. player. More than 150,000 retailers sell its memory cards for digital cameras."

From Business 2.0 "The Internet ad market grew to $12.5 billion last year, a 30 percent jump from 2004. Ad seller ValueClick was even hotter, using timely acquisitions to increase the number of websites for which it sells ads to 18,000."

From Business 2.0 "Palomar makes light-pulsing gear that zaps unwanted hair, age spots, and other skin blemishes. Sales of its $100,000 StarLux systems (67 percent more powerful than older models) more than quadrupled in 2005."

From Business 2.0 "In just a few years, it's become the No. 2 online ad-industry conglomerate behind Digitas (No. 54). In 2004 it acquired Razorfish, combining it with its Avenue A agency to double sales of marketing services."

From Business 2.0 "Its 2005 gains reflect a 74 percent spike in sales of AlloDerm, which surgeons use as material for rejection-proof tissue grafts. It already controls nearly 10 percent of the market for breast reconstruction."