BioHealth Innovation Weekly for April 2, 2024

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, April 1, 2024 - BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is delighted to present a compelling episode on its podcast, BioTalk with Rich Bendis, titled "Transforming Healthcare: Insights from John Sackett, Adventist Healthcare COO on BioTalk." In this captivating episode, John Sackett, Executive Vice President & COO of Adventist Healthcare, shares his extraordinary journey and invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of healthcare delivery, all while managing cystic fibrosis.

John Sackett's story is one of resilience, leadership, and innovation. From his early days as an administrative assistant to his current role as Executive Vice President & COO of Adventist Healthcare, John has demonstrated unwavering dedication to improving healthcare outcomes in the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR). Despite the challenges posed by cystic fibrosis, a chronic and life-threatening genetic disease, John has thrived professionally and emerged as an inspirational figure, defying the odds and becoming a beacon of hope for others.

In this episode, John candidly discusses his personal journey of managing cystic fibrosis while excelling in his career. His story sheds light on the challenges faced by individuals living with chronic illnesses and underscores the importance of resilience, innovation, and patient-centered care in healthcare delivery.

LaunchPort welcomes CEO Samantha Scott and her team as the latest Residents to join the Baltimore Peninsula site.

JuneBrain Inc. (https://www.junebrain.com/) offers accessible monitoring solutions for eye care and neurology. With approximately 1.3 billion individuals worldwide afflicted by conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), tracking the progression of these ailments often involves monitoring the retina. To address this need, JuneBrain has developed an AI-driven wearable eye-scanning device and SaaS platform. This innovation facilitates the detection of new disease activity and empowers clinicians to monitor disease progression and patient responses to treatment between clinical visits.

COLUMBIA, Md. (April 1, 2024) – TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $50,000 Pre-Seed Builder Fund investment in LASARRUS, a medical device company dedicating to supporting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. TEDCO’s Pre-Seed Builder Fund is housed under TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds which were created to engage and invest in economically underserved founders and communities.

“With our innovative device, we are looking to bring current monitoring practices for COPD patients to a new level,” said Lloyd Emokpae, co-founder, CEO and chief technology officer of LASARRUS. “Thanks to TEDCO’s investment we can accelerate our mission to enhance care for COPD patients and ultimately support more COPD patients across Maryland and beyond.”

Altimmune on Wednesday said its experimental drug helped patients shed weight but also minimized the loss of muscle mass in a midstage trial, a finding that could set it apart in a potentially crowded market.

Altimmune is one of several smaller biotech companies that are pushing to compete directly with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the growing weight loss drug space, or to get scooped up by larger drugmakers that can help bring their treatments to market.

The results are an early sign that the biotech company can address a major concern around those treatments, which have drawn unrelenting demand and investor interest over the last year.

A globally recognized physician-scientist who studies and treats blood cancer is joining Virginia Tech to lead cancer research in Washington, D.C., said Michael Friedlander, Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology and executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

Christopher Hourigan, a senior investigator and chief of the Laboratory of Myeloid Malignancies at the National Institutes of Health, will join Virginia Tech as a professor with the institute and director of its Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C.

“Dr. Hourigan exemplifies the prototype of a physician-scientist, integrating insights from his patient interactions directly into his fundamental and translational laboratory research,” Friedlander said. “We are extremely enthusiastic to have him join Virginia Tech and become a member of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute team to take on this important new leadership role for our growing cancer research programs in Washington, D.C., and to further strengthen our collaborations with Carilion Clinic, Children’s National Hospital, and other health systems and universities.

Venture financing for Maryland’s life sciences industry in 2023 shows signs of recovery following the significant downturn in 2022, with the total value of private equity financing reaching USD 805m (up from USD 639m in 2022). For the biotech industry, the value of venture financing deals remained stable (USD 453m in 2022 vs. USD 451m in 2023), while the number of funding rounds increased by nearly half (26 rounds in 2022 vs. 38 rounds in 2023).

Among Maryland-based companies that went public in 2023, YS Biopharma led the way with a SPAC merger raising gross proceeds of USD 36m, followed by the IPOs of MIRA Pharmaceuticals (USD 8.9m) and Bullfrog AI Holdings (USD 8.4m). The two largest private equity financing rounds for biotech companies were raised by Georgiamune Inc. with a Series A round of USD 75m and ManaT Bio with a financing round of USD 72m.

March 28, 2024, Baltimore, MD. – BioBuzz Networks and the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) – Chesapeake Bay Area (CBA) Chapter are pleased to announce the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations. This MOU will enable both BioBuzz and ISPE-CBA to formally work together to help strengthen Maryland’s pharmaceutical and biotech industries by building a stronger, more connected community.

Both Biobuzz and ISPE-CBA provide important educational and networking opportunities for the large biopharma community that has grown in Maryland. In fact, the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland / Virginia / Washington, D.C) is the third largest biopharma cluster in the United States. Working as ISPE-CBA’s official media partner, the partnership will enable BioBuzz to participate in each of ISPE-CBA’s many events, which include sustainability and other educational webinars and site tours, Women in Pharma®, Emerging Leader, and Student educational and networking initiatives, and numerous social events, as well as the Chapter’s annual conference, the Mid-Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) Meeting, which provides a full day of education, networking opportunities, and an exhibit hall for pharma/biotech companies and service providers alike to share their products, introduce their company, and raise their brand’s industry profile. ISPE-CBA, based on this partnership, will enjoy continuous promotion on BioBuzz’ substantial online media network, with a reach of more than 400,000 viewers, and will enjoy an enhanced presence at BioBuzz’ many networking events held throughout Maryland each year.