BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced today that Roche Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) and BHI have entered into an agreement to advance healthcare technologies coming from academic institutions, federal laboratories and startups based in Central Maryland. Under the terms of the agreement, BHI will identify health technologies that Roche will evaluate for potential research, development and commercialization opportunities. Priority areas of interest will include oncology, neuroscience, ophthalmology, rare diseases, immunological and infectious diseases. Financial terms for the agreement were not disclosed.
The agreement was initiated through Roche pRED Academic Relations and Collaboration (ARC) group, which is led globally by Juan Carlos Lopez. "Sourcing of technologies from academia, federal labs and early-stage startups can be a challenging and lengthy process," said Lopez. "As we seek to expand our capabilities to source and screen technologies aligned with our strategic interests, BHI is an ideal partner to support identification of external opportunities in a broad, systematic fashion."
"The BHI team will employ a flexible internal/external sourcing model to facilitate for Roche the identification of aligned external opportunities such as targets, assets, platforms, investigators, and talent," said Richard Bendis, BHI President & CEO. "We will work with Roche to help expand and advance the product portfolio."
As part of the agreement, Judith Dunn, pRED's Global Head of Clinical Development and Head of Roche Innovation Center in New York, has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of BHI to serve as the Roche representative to the BHI Board.
About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.