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THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN ONE OF SIGNIFICANT GROWTH FOR FREDERICK’S LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR.

We compiled a list of some of the major local expansion and success stories below.

BIOFACTURA

In February 2021, BioFactura announced a contract option activation of over $13 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) as part of BioFactura’s prime contract valued at up to $67.4 million for the advanced development of a smallpox biodefense therapeutic. While smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization after an extensive vaccination campaign, the threat of bioterrorism and/or inadvertent release remains. This product has the potential to fulfill an unmet need in preparedness, augment current medical countermeasures and guard against potential resistance.

As the U.K. looks to boost the economy after a major COVID hit—and the looming spotlight of Brexit—the government is creating a new £1 billion public-private partnership in life sciences.

British Patient Capital, the commercial arm of the U.K. government’s British Business Bank, is kickstarting the program, funneling £200 million to “specialist funds” designed to “unlock the potential of innovative U.K. life sciences companies so that they can grow their operations and create high-skilled jobs in the U.K.,” according to the government.

Image: Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when Mayor of London last decade, created new life sciences hubs and investment plans. (UK Pool via AP via Newscred)

Rockville, Md. —  Montgomery County, Maryland, home of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and more than 480 life sciences companies, continues its momentum as a magnet for new life sciences development with a major surge in leasing and investment. With rising demand and just 5.2% availability for the county’s existing lab space, an additional 1.6 million square feet (SF) of lab space is in development—joining the current 10.6 million SF of total lab inventory already in Montgomery County. 

Eight hospitals and health systems have opened or announced plans to establish new centers focused on healthcare innovation this year. 

Editor’s note: The innovation center launches are listed in the order they were reported. 

1. Cleveland Clinic in January said it plans to launch a new infectious disease research center through the new $500 million Cleveland Innovation District backed by the state of Ohio and JobsOhio. The health system in March also partnered with IBM to create a healthcare artificial intelligence discovery center. 

2. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s joint biological innovation center secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., in January. 

George Mason University, the largest public research university in Virginia, has a strong tradition of conducting research of consequence, from our pioneering work in cybersecurity to developing new ways of testing for COVID-19.

Since earning our R1 designation for “very high research” from Carnegie in 2016 and joining the elite group of the 131 best U.S. research institutions, our research enterprise has grown rapidly, reaching more than $200 million in funding in 2020, an all-time high for the university.

Quantum computing could change the world. It could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionise communications and artificial intelligence. Companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google are racing to build reliable quantum computers. China has invested billions.

Recently, Google claimed that it had achieved quantum supremacy – the first time a quantum computer has outperformed a traditional one. But what is quantum computing? And how does it work?

What is quantum computing? Let’s start with the basics.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. and SUZHOU BIOBAY, China, July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Sirnaomics Ltd., a leading biopharmaceutical company in discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, announced today that it has sealed $105 million in a Series E financing.  This round of funding was led by Rotating Boulder Fund, an investor that has been supporting the company since its Series B round, with participation from existing investors and a well-recognized syndicate of new investors.