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Large pharmaceutical companies are often on the lookout for small strategic acquisitions of companies that have a promising pipeline candidate in their portfolio. Sometimes, acquiring a company with a promising early-stage candidate makes sense instead of developing a product from scratch, which involves a lot of time.

Swiss oncology major Roche RHHBY is all set to acquire a privately held biotechnology company, Adheron Therapeutics. Based in Berkeley, CA, Adheron has developed a revolutionary technology that disrupts cell adhesion to treat a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and fibrotic diseases through a cell surface protein called Cadherin-11.

23andMe has raised a substantial $115 million in a series E round led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, with participation from new investors Casdin Capital, WuXi Healthcare Ventures, and Xfund, as well as existing investors such as Google Ventures.

The personal genomics and biotechnology company was founded in 2006 by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company had already raised $126 million prior to today’s announcement, and boasts a slew of big-name investors, including Google, Google Ventures, Sergey Brin, and Yuri Milner.

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named six public research institutions as finalists for its third annual Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) University Awards. The winners will be announced on November 17 at the association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis. The finalists — Auburn University, Clemson University, Ohio University, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, and University of Minnesota — are competing for four different awards that recognize different components of economic engagement. The award categories include talent, innovation, place, and connections.

In a move that takes concierge medicine to a whole new level, human genome pioneer J. Craig Venter on Tuesday unveiled a venture that combines whole genome sequencing with advanced clinical technologies to provide comprehensive health exams for self-paying customers.

The venture, called Health Nucleus, was formed as part of Human Longevity Inc., also known as HLI, the company Venter founded 19 months ago (with an initial $70 million in venture funding) to provide whole genome sequencing and other diagnostic services.

MedImmune is the newest member of the Human Vaccines Project, which will help to accelerate the research and development of vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious disease and cancer.

Incubated at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the Human Vaccines Project is an ambitious new public-private partnership seeking to transform the future of global disease prevention and treatment by solving the primary scientific obstacles impeding the research and development of new vaccines and immunotherapies. Endorsed by 35 leading vaccine scientists, the Project brings together top academic research centers, and government, non-profit and industry research and development efforts into a global consortium.

A $300 million worldwide licensing agreement announced last week between Immunomic Therapeutics and Astellas Pharma to develop treatment for a wide range of allergic diseases, including peanut allergies, is the largest deal ever to come out of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, the patent, licensing, and technology commercialization arm of the university.

The agreement, first announced Thursday night, centers on the LAMP-vax technology, which was originally developed by Thomas August, Drew Pardoll, and others at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and licensed in 2006 to Immunomic Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Can aging be slowed by using gene therapy to make permanent changes to a person’s DNA?

One Seattle-area woman says she has tried exactly that. Her claim has entangled some high-profile American academics in a strange tale of do-it-yourself medicine that involves plane flights to Latin America, an L.A. film crew, and what’s purported to be the first attempt to use gene therapy to forestall normal aging.

DNA doesn’t just coil in the iconic double helix immortalized in every high school biology textbook. It also loops into a menagerie of fantastical shapes, new research finds.

By revealing the hidden shape of DNA, the new insights could provide a more detailed look at the workings of drugs such as chemotherapeutic agents, which interact with DNA.

Attracting mid- to large-sized medical device companies through established innovation hubs is the biggest key to growing Baltimore into a major medical device technology sector, according to a report released today by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech).

“Baltimore already has many of the pieces in place to support innovation hubs and a thriving medical device community,” said Martha Connolly, director of Mtech Baltimore. “This study is important because we believe Baltimore is well-positioned to be a leading center for medical devices. The expertise of the University System of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University in engineering and medicine provide great capabilities for this sector.” 

WHEN: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 | 6:30pm-8:30pm WHERE: Johns Hopkins East, 1101 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 | 3rd Floor Conference Room.

Learn how to secure National Institutes of Health SBIR/STTRs for your high-tech bio-innovation.

Dr. Doswell lead JUICE Money wins for high-tech minority companies and HBCUs such as: 3 NIH SBIR/STTR grant awards in 2015.

• 3 NIH SBIR/STTR grant awards in 2015.
• 1 DOD RIF grant award in 2015.
• 1 CASIS grant award for testing innovation onboard the International Space Station in 2015.
• 1 Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) Phase II award for Morgan State University in 2015.
• 1 Maryland Space Grant Consortium Award for Morgan State University in 2015.
• Secured Maryland TEDO awards.
• Secured a Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) award
• Secured NSF STTR Phase I/II awards.
• Helped fund the Robotics Technician Program at Baltimore City Community College