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Mobile technology is transforming the way patients and doctors interact.

That was the message conveyed by a panel of speakers at a Health IT Forum hosted at Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus.

The Health IT Forum series, held four times a year, is a community partnership co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, the TechCouncil of Maryland and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. The January forum, titled “Patient Tools for Better Health,” attracted approximately 50 health IT experts from the region.

New Enterprise Associates has stepped up to help with a $14 million A round designed to get Austin, TX-based startup Lumos Pharmaceuticals in the clinic with a new therapy for an autism spectrum disorder characterized by severe cognitive impairment. Sante Ventures negotiated the original term sheet for Lumos and NEA joined the financing later.

Lumos has been working with a subsidiary of the NIH on LUM-001, an analogue of creatine that was studied by investigators at the University of Cincinnati. The “repurposed” molecule has been shown in animal studies to cross the blood-brain barrier, offering the potential to restore levels of creatine in the brain, which is eliminated by a defect in the transporter gene found in people who suffer from a range of cognitive disorders, including autism.

It’s no big secret that the vast majority of venture capitalists are men. But that vastness is even a bit larger than I had expected.

Following yesterday’s news that Jennifer Fonstad and Theresia Gouw were stepping down as partners with DFJ and Accel Partners, respectively, in order to launch their own firm, we decided to begin researching exactly how many partner-level female VCs there really were.

On Tuesday, Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Health Administration announced that they will collaborate to research and develop best practices for various health care fields, EHR Intelligence reports (Freeman, EHR Intelligence, 2/4).

The partnership is part of the VA’s Innovation Partnership Program.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Bethesda Blues and Jazz – 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

What’s next for Montgomery County? The potential for livable work, live and play environments on Metro abound. But what about the business community? What is it going to take to build an innovation economy? Is Montgomery County going to become the next tech hub?

Join us for a very special morning event featuring some of the brightest and most influential business and real estate leaders as they discuss some of the most dramatic decisions that this region will face in the upcoming year. Sign up now to join leaders of the Maryland business region for an important morning of discussion and networking!

“Our goal is absolutely to democratize knowledge,” says Denny Luan. “Modern science has such a rush for fast results – publish or perish, output over process. We’d like to show the greater public that science does not have to be locked up behind monasterial walls. We’d like to change the way science is shared – in an engaging, deliberately beautiful way. Real-time, open-access and with great design.”

Luan is co-founder of what, until this morning, was known as “Microryza” – the site has been renamed “Experiment” as part of a revamped branding strategy – a potentially revolutionary crowdfunding platform that is looking to do for science what Kickstarter has done for the entertainment industry.

As part of an ongoing effort to empower patients to be informed partners with their health care providers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken action to give patients or a person designated by the patient a means of direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.

“The right to access personal health information is a cornerstone of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Information like lab results can empower patients to track their health progress, make decisions with their health care professionals, and adhere to important treatment plans.”

Two years ago, at the recommendation of a nutritionist, I stopped eating wheat and a few other grains. Within a matter of days the disabling headaches and fatigue that I had been suffering for months vanished. Initially my gastroenterologist interpreted this resolution of my symptoms as a sign that I perhaps suffered from celiac disease, a peculiar disorder in which the immune system attacks a bundle of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye that are collectively referred to as gluten. The misdirected assault ravages and inflames the small intestine, interfering with the absorption of vital nutrients and thereby causing bloating, diarrhea, headaches, tiredness and, in rare cases, death. Yet several tests for celiac disease had come back negative. Rather my doctors concluded that I had nonceliac “gluten sensitivity,” a relatively new diagnosis. The prevalence of gluten sensitivity is not yet clear, but some data suggest it may afflict as many as 6 percent of Americans, six times the number of people with celiac disease.

Ten big rival drug companies have formed a pact to cooperate on a government-backed effort to accelerate the discovery of new drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The companies and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will share scientists, tissue and blood samples, and data, to identify targets for new drugs for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, the Journal said.

On March 19 and 20, the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) will be holding its “Global 1000: Meet | Partner | Deal Showcase and Conference” at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. The GLOBAL 1000 Meet | Partner | Deal :: Startups Showcase + Conference is an important transaction-based conference for Global 1000 corporates, and for universities, angel investors, VCs, accelerators, incubators, state startup investment programs, and SBIR programs, who want to do deals with them. The conference has multiple showcases by Global 1000 corporates, state programs, universities, VCs and angel investors. Sophisticated meeting software allows for real-time meetings between conference attendees to facilitate deal-making at the conference.

Global Corporate Venturing is the fastest growing venturing activity in the world with already about $100 billion in venturing assets and more than $3.5 trillion in corporate revenues. According to NCET2’s Executive Director, Tony Stanco, the conference focuses on bringing deals to the Global 1000 companies. He said, “This is the major conference to do transactions with the Global 1000 corporates, including M&A, favored access to customers, early/late stage investing, partnering, joint venturing, co-developing products, incubation, product sourcing, white labeling, revenue sharing, and distributor agreements.”

NCET2 is proud to have Innovation America as a media partner. Richard Bendis will be delivering a keynote speech on Thursday, March 20. Innovation America subscribers can get a $300 registration discount by using the code “innoam2014“.