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Rockville, MD, United States, May 23, 2023 – Advanced BioScience Laboratories (ABL), a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) for biotherapies,
oncolytics and viral vector vaccines, today announces it has been awarded a contract for ‘Resources to Advance Pediatrics and HIV Prevention Science (RAPPS)’ by the Division of AIDS
(DAIDS) within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

This seven-year contract has a total potential funding value of $98.9 million. ABL will provide DAIDS with (i) preclinical gap-filling, (ii) animal models, (iii) bioanalytical services, (iv)
product manufacturing and (v) other scientific and quality/regulatory services to support preclinical research, development of pediatric formulations and advancement of next generation non-vaccine Biomedical HIV Prevention products (nBPs) such as IntraVaginal Rings (IVRs), long-acting injectables and Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs) composed of a combination of drugs that can target prevention of pregnancy, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and/or HIV.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Hememics Biotechnologies, Inc., developer of first-in-class, handheld, multiplexed biosensor platform that can test antibodies, antigens and molecular targets simultaneously, announced today the closing of a $2 million Seed 2 financing round. Participants of this round include a strategic investor, existing investors and Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).

“I am extremely proud of what the company has achieved with the limited amount of resources,” said John Warden, Jr., CEO and Co-founder of Hememics Biotechnologies, Inc. “We have generated extremely favorable results from more than 100,000 biosensor experiments in the past nine months. The new funding will allow us to finalize our design, receive third-party validation, and develop early commercial customers.” 

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ —REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation for RGX-121, an investigational one-time AAV Therapeutic for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II), also known as Hunter syndrome. RMAT designation is designed to expedite the drug development and review processes for promising new treatments, including gene therapies, and recognizes that the preliminary clinical evidence from RGX-121 indicates its potential to address unmet medical needs for MPS II. RGX-121 is currently being studied in the CAMPSIITE™ trial that is enrolling MPS II patients as part of a pivotal program that incorporates material from the NAVXpress™ platform process manufactured at the REGENXBIO Manufacturing Innovation Center and continues to support plans to file Biologics License Application (BLA) in 2024 using the accelerated approval pathway.

Commission also issues Request for Applications for Four Funding Programs for July 13, 2023, Deadline

COLUMBIA, Md. (May 9, 2023) —The Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) Commission is pleased to announce over $14.1 million in grant awards to promote innovative research that will strengthen and advance stem cell treatments and technologies in Maryland. This is the largest amount awarded to Maryland-based institutions and companies since 2010 and was made possible as a result of increased funding from the State.  This is also the first time that the Commission awarded funding to Maryland-based companies under MSCRF’s new Manufacturing Assistance Program, established to boost cell therapy manufacturing capabilities in the State. 

39 scientists from Maryland-based research institutions and companies will be receiving awards from this round of funding to advance research addressing an array of medical conditions, including cancer, eye, heart, bone, blood, digestive, and central nervous system diseases. Awardees include academic scientists from Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger and The Geneva Foundation.  From the commercial sector, awardees include Vita Therapeutics, Inc., Theradaptive, Inc., Caring Cross, Inc., RoosterBio, Inc. and Reprocell U.S.A., Inc.

Maryland medical device company supports patients and medical professionals through safer needle filtration device

COLUMBIA, Md. (May 22, 2023) – TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent Seed Funds investment of $250,000 into CarrTech Corp., a medical device company. TEDCO’s Seed Funds invest in early-stage, technology and life sciences companies and provides access to gap financing.

“The current eight-step process healthcare professionals are required to take to administer certain medicine is inefficient and high-risk of needlestick injuries and glass shard contamination to the patient,” said Sue Carr, founder of CarrTech Corp. “By eliminating the need to attach and detach multiple needles, patients are able to get access to the medication they need faster and safer.”

The most recent round of seed funding came from its Life Science Investment Fund; investments are for companies in the process of developing a technology for a product for human health that requires approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration prior to market.

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Harsha Rajasimha, PhD, founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics, on the potential to accelerate patient recruitment and solve clinical trial delays. Currently, the research, development, and approval process of a new drug by the FDA can take between 12 to 15 years. However, studies have shown patient recruitment issues are the cause of 85% of clinical trial delays.

Pharmacy Times: What are the different phases of the drug approval process by the FDA?

Harsha Rajasimha: Typically, drug approval process involves a preclinical phase, which enables first-in-human clinical trial for a new drug or entity. And that goes through phase 1, phase 2, phase 3 trials, typically. And sometimes there can be phase 1 and 2, or phase 2 and 3 combined, and stuff like that, and different types of trial designs these days, but typically phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, where phase 1 is entirely looking at safety of the drug in humans, because it’s only tested in animals. Phase 2, looking at safety and efficacy at very low doses to make sure there is some drug effect. And phase 3 is full-fledged in a larger population, to assess the safety and efficacy profile across the range of doses in a range of patients in the target population. And after that, all of this data gets wrapped into an FDA submission for review. And the whole process from phase 1 to phase 3 and the review process can take about 7 years, typically, sometimes longer. And so, it’s a very expensive and time-consuming process. And this process is often called the “Valley of Death,” because only 1 in 9, 1 out of 10 drugs actually make it through the regulatory approval. Most of them will fail at phase 1, or phase 2, or phase 3, about 30% at each phase. So, very few drugs make it to market.