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Merck & Co. Inc. unveiled plans Wednesday to spin off products from its women’s health and biosimilars businesses, along with certain legacy brands, into a new independent and publicly traded company.

Going forward, Merck (NYSE: MRK) will focus on its oncology, vaccines, hospital medicine and animal health segments.

Merck expects the spinoff to be completed by the first half of 2021. The pharmaceutical giant anticipates cost savings of more than $1.5 billion — primarily in areas such as manufacturing and sales staff costs — by 2024. In addition, Merck said by continuing to increase investments in its key growth drivers and pipeline assets, it is targeting operating margins to grow to more than 40% in 2024.

Its potential 1.7 million-square-foot campus in South San Francisco matches the biotech industry’s growth.

In June 2019, MLP Ventures’ The Discovery Labs announced renovation plans for GlaxoSmithKline’s R&D space in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania it acquired the previous year for about $50 million with the goal of turning the space into “co-working” ecosystem for healthcare, life sciences and technology-enabled companies.

George Mason University is now looking for private partners to help it build its Amazon-inspired expansion of its Arlington campus, outlining preliminary plans for a building with 225,000 square feet of academic space and 135,000 square feet of private office and retail.

University officials released a request for proposals Tuesday, looking for developers interested in teaming up with Mason to build a new home for the Institute of Digital Innovation on its Virginia Square property. The building is set to include a mix of uses across its 460,000 square feet, with room for classes and research labs alongside space for companies big and small looking to partner with the university.

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CNBC’s Meg Tirrell reports on testing efforts here in the U.S. to detect the coronavirus. With Qiagen’s interim CEO, Thierry Bernard, in Boston.

Startup Maryland recently unveiled video pitches from the participants in the 2019 STRT1UP Roadshow. Entrants are now in the running for the Pitch Across Maryland competition. Categories this year for the Pitch Across Maryland include: Fan Favorite, Champions’ Choice, Industries and Overall Winner.

The STRT1UP Roadshow, which is the year-long tour around the state, involves the video bus into which entrepreneurs climb to deliver a two to four minute video pitch summarizing their venture and opportunity, according to a Startup Maryland press release.

As it gears up for expansion in 2020, Baltimore-based Avhana Health is kicking off a partnership with one of Florida’s largest health system, cofounder Noah Weiner said.

The downtown Baltimore-based company is working with AdventHealth to launch its platform that improves electronic health records throughout the system’s network of doctor’s offices.

Image: Avhana Health cofounders and brothers Noah and Nate Weiner. (Courtesy photo)

Life sciences and biotechnology business ventures in Southeastern North Carolina could get a boost through a new competition launched Tuesday by the N.C. Biotechnology Center Southeastern Office, in partnership with UNCW’s CIE.

Entrepreneurs and companies can now apply for the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge, which aims to “raise the profile, increase the volume, and enhance the success of life science commercialization, entrepreneurs, and companies in the region,” according to the venture challenge website.

Now that we have stepped over the threshold into 2020, what has the research community learned that will propel progress and how can we enable changes that can move health and science forward?

Here’s a look a 10 trends and big ideas we are watching as this new decade unfolds:

1.   Making patients the priority: Retail, banking, and other consumer-focused industries have placed the consumer in the center.

Developing medication, devices, and products for children is not a matter of “shrinking” down the adult version. Delivering solutions to our littlest patients requires a long-term approach that deliberately centers children in all stages of innovation – from ideation to incubation, from clinical trials to market.

 Join Chief Innovation Officer of Children’s National Health System Kolaleh Eskandanian and experts in pediatric medical device innovation for a candid discussion on the challenges and opportunities upon designing innovation with children in mind.