PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSE MKT: PIP) and Altimmune, Inc., a privately-held immunotherapeutics company targeting infectious diseases, announced today the signing of a definitive agreement for the merger of PharmAthene and Altimmune in an all-stock transaction. Altimmune’s current investors include Novartis Venture Fund, HealthCap, Truffle Capital and Redmont Capital. The combined company will be a fully-integrated and diversified immunotherapeutics company with four clinical stage and one preclinical stage programs. The proposed transaction does not affect PharmAthene’s previously announced special one-time cash dividend of $2.91 per share of common stock.
A multicenter study led by investigators at Johns Hopkins University just reported on a full genomic analysis of tumor samples from a small number of people who died of pancreatic cancer. The new data suggests that epigenetic changes control how DNA operates to confer survival advantages on subsets of pancreatic cancer cells. Those advantages, the researchers say, let such cancer cells thrive in organs like the liver and lungs, which receive a sugar-rich blood supply.
Tuesday, January 31 at 2:00 PM ET
You’ve got an amazing idea for a new medical product, it’ll save lives, speed recovery, be less expensive, more accurate and durable than the product already available on the market – or it may fill a gap where there is no product available. You have an amazing team, strong IP, an understanding of the regulatory and reimbursement coverage data requirements – all you need to get to market is MORE MONEY! In this Small Biz Hangout one of NHLBI’s funded companies will demonstrate how to deliver a strong pitch to investors and our Investor-in-Residence will comment on the most effective and impactful aspects of the delivery.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is advancing its anthrax preparedness strategy with multiple contract actions for the company’s anthrax vaccines.
Psyadon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders, announced today that its lead product — ecopipam — produced significant reductions in total tic severity scores in children (7-17 years) with Tourette’s Syndrome.
The study’s primary endpoint was a statistically significant reduction in the mean Yale Global Tic Severity Score Total Tic Score (YGTSS-TTS). This is a well-validated and standard measure of the clinical efficacy of drugs treating Tourette’s Syndrome. Ecopipam caused significant reductions in the YGTSS-TTS at both two- and four weeks after initiating treatment. Furthermore, the side effects seen in the subjects taking ecopipam were comparable to those seen in the placebo-treated subjects, including no clinically significant changes in standard clinical lab tests or ECG’s, and no increases in body weights.
QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the acquisition of OmicSoft Corporation, providing access to OmicSoft’s powerful multi-omics data management infrastructure solution as well as expertly curated ‘omics’ data sets that complement QIAGEN’s bioinformatics portfolio that are relied upon by customers worldwide to gain valuable insights into complex biological data.
Paragon Bioservices received a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide product development services for a variety of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) medical product development activities. The IDIQ mechani
Machfu Inc., a technology solutions company based in Germantown, filed to raise an added $1 million in private equity and extend the life of its 2016 offering.
The company has raised $425,000 since February of last year, when it initially reported raising $125,000, one quarter of its total offering amount at the time, according to a Thursday filing. The amended offering amount is $1.5 million.
AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine today announced that they signed a five-year collaboration agreement with the goal of advancing medical oncology research and discovery at both organizations.
Designed to build strong collaboration between AbbVie and Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, the agreement will focus on several areas of oncology research, which could include lung, colorectal, breast, prostate and hematological cancer.
Dr. Francis Collins is being held over as the director of the National Institutes of Health by the Trump administration, his office announced Thursday afternoon. Collins had been prepared to step down from the post on Friday, after Trump’s inauguration, and return to his lab at the NIH Bethesda campus. However, with Thursday’s news, he will remain as director for the time being.
Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures released photos of a new incubator space that’s set to open later this year.
FastForward 1812 is located within 1812 Ashland Ave., which is near Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Eager Park development (and the FastForward East incubator space).
Digital health leader WellDoc announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the Company 510(k) class II clearance for a non-prescription version of the BlueStar® digital therapeutic. This BlueStar® option will allow WellDoc more flexibility in offering the product through additional channels to adults living with type 2 diabetes.
“This FDA clearance is a significant milestone for WellDoc,” said Kevin McRaith, WellDoc President & CEO. “We can now integrate BlueStar® more seamlessly into the healthcare ecosystem as we commercialize the product and significantly scale it by working with our existing partners as well as others with which we are actively engaged.”
One new member of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is from Baltimore, and part of his job will involve tech policy.
Reed Cordish, a real estate (not software) developer who is a principal with the Cordish Companies, will serve as an assistant to the president on “intragovernmental and technology initiatives,” the Trump transition team announced.
The Maryland Cybersecurity Awards Celebration is designed to honor the companies, organizations, and individuals that have protected businesses and government agencies with their cutting-edge technologies; thwarted cyber criminals with their outstanding cybersecurity services; demonstrated exemplary knowledge, expertise, leadership and innovative thinking; or made a significant contribution to Maryland’s cybersecurity ecosystem. Help us celebrate the best and brightest of the Maryland cyberscurity community by nominating yourself or another individual, company, or organization for one of the prestigious Maryland Cybersecurity Awards. The nomination process is quick and easy, and will only take a few moments. Multiple nominations are encouraged.
Nomination Deadline: January 31st.
A half-dozen student-run startups at Johns Hopkins are getting some funding and help with developing their ideas.
Through the O’Connor Fund, the undergraduate student teams get a $5,000 grant plus access to mentors and other resources. There’s also an opportunity to receive another $5,000 if the teams reach specific business milestones. The program is run by Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures.
The Accelerator Director serves as a principal member of the IPHA evaluation, selection and mentoring team responsible for the identification and development of new personalized health companies with the potential to produce disruptive technology solutions and achieve a high rate of growth.
The Accelerator Director is responsible for sourcing and conducting due diligence on IPHA applicants, evaluating and supporting new company formation strategies, mentoring entrepreneurs in personalized health product development, facilitating IPHA member network relationship development, maintaining board-level relationships and mentoring entrepreneurs in securing equity based capital for growth.
Additionally, the Director will support the growth and management of the IPHA mentor network whose participants provide guidance to portfolio companies. The Director will also work with members of the Inova Strategic Investment team to support the diligence process prior to subsequent investment transactions.
The premiere medical technology start-up competition has just announced they are accepting applications for their next batch of world changing companies. Medgadget had the chance to be present at the last MedTech innovator finals held at AdvaMed in Minneapolis this past October, which was clearly the highlight of the entire conference. Attendees were on the edge of their seats as the finalists laid out their personal stories and health-oriented technologies. The crowd, by popular vote, laid down judgement on our hopeful finalists awarding the grand prize to Green Sun Medical.
Horizon 2020 is the European Union’s largest research and innovation initiative, with nearly €80 billion in funding allocated for over seven years. The program focuses on three overarching priorities: excellent science, industrial leadership, and solutions to global challenges. Horizon 2020 is open to participants from anywhere in the world as the program recognizes the growing importance of internationalizing how knowledge is produced and used.
Please join our speakers to hear their testimonials and to learn about the different types of international cooperation that Horizon 2020 supports, namely on an individual, collaborative, or program level. The presentations will also address in detail the main elements of Horizon 2020 with regards to content, types of activities funded, forms of participation, and application procedures.
As Donald Trump is sworn into office today, we look at what the next 100 days and indeed the next four years could mean for the biopharma industry through his recent candidates for the top healthcare roles, his policies (which are still coming into focus), and the power that 140 characters can have.
It’s been more than a decade since California launched an unprecedented experiment in medical research by direct democracy, when voters created a $3 billion fund to kick-start the hunt for stem cell therapies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state budget proposal puts most of its economic development bets on life sciences and biotech rather than semiconductors and nanotechnology. Cuomo’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal, which he revealed to the public late Tuesday, includes the first $300 million of a previously announced $650 million five-year plan to build up the state’s life sciences research cluster to support biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
Tuesday, February 7, 20174:00 PM to 6:30 PM (Eastern)Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850
BDO and Crowell & Moring are proud to present a two-part panel discussion on IP Strategy for the BioPharma Industry. This is a “must attend” event for companies engaged in drug, vaccine, biologic, or medical device research and strategic product development. IP and the strategy to procure and sustain it is one of the most critical aspects to revenue generation and commercial success. Our panel members are admired veterans in this field and will present intriguing case studies that will emphasize lessons learned and practical solutions to creating a successful IP strategy.
Scientists have created a new soft robot that successfully reanimated several pigs’ hearts after they failed. The technology could one day keep an ailing human heart pumping as a patient waits for a transplant.
Last week’s 35th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco was packed with thousands of healthcare investors, analysts, large multinational healthcare companies, startups, and everything in between.
In a week that saw countless broken umbrellas and end to the Bay Area’s prolonged drought, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco featured what it always does: set the fertile ground for healthcare and life sciences dealmaking and networking. From the buzz around Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance to talk about the Cancer Moonshot to Illumina’s partnership with IBM Watson Health, there were plenty of headlines generated at the main conference and the satellite events that accompany it. Here were the biggest stories that emerged from them:
In a dream Brian Hanley told me about, he’s riding a bus when he meets a man in dark leather clothing. Next thing he knows, he is splayed across a tilted metal bed, being electrocuted.
