Forbes -- Francis Manganaro is a scrapper. In the last six years the wiry 68-year-old chief executive of Nova Biomedical, a privately held maker of blood-testing equipment for diabetics, has fended off attacks from behemoths Abbott Laboratories ( ABT - news - people ), Roche ( RHHBY.PK - news - people ) and Medtronic ( MDT - news - people ). All have claimed that Nova either infringed on their patented technology or stole their trade secrets. With just $165 million in revenue, Nova arguably couldn’t afford even one protracted legal battle, but Manganaro refused to be bullied.
