Biohealth Innovation - 604th Edition, April 16, 2024

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April 16, 2024

TEDCO Invests in Astek Diagnostics

Maryland biotech company continuing mission to provide antibiotic sensitivity precision diagnostics

COLUMBIA, Md. (April 15, 2024) – fdfsTEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $250,000 Seed Funds investment in Astek Diagnostics, a biomedical company.

“From the early days in my basement during the pandemic, TEDCO saw potential in our idea and supported us with our very first check,” said Mustafa Al-Adhami, CEO of Astek Diagnostics. “Today, our team stands strong at nine, having achieved the milestone of our first version of the product and partnerships with urology practices and hospitals across the globe.”

WaPo: Former NIH director Collins on his prostate cancer, medical research

Over my 40 years as a physician-scientist, I’ve had the privilege of advising many patients facing serious medical diagnoses. I’ve seen them go through the excruciating experience of waiting for the results of a critical blood test, biopsy or scan that could dramatically affect their future hopes and dreams.

But this time, I was the one lying in the PET scanner as it searched for possible evidence of spread of my aggressive prostate cancer. I spent those 30 minutes in quiet prayer. If that cancer had already spread to my lymph nodes, bones, lungs or brain, it could still be treated — but it would no longer be curable.

Why am I going public about this cancer that many men are uncomfortable talking about? Because I want to lift the veil and share lifesaving information, and I want all men to benefit from the medical research to which I’ve devoted my career and that is now guiding my care.

STAT: NCI director expresses optimism about next era of cancer research, despite shrinking budget and brain drain

SAN DIEGO — Kimryn Rathmell, director of the National Cancer Institute, gestured toward the screen and asked an audience of clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates what they thought they were looking at. Projected behind her was a patchwork of purple, red, pink, and blue squares.

Moments later, a larger-than-life image of Taylor Swift flashed in the middle of the pattern, and laughter rippled through the room here at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting as attendees realized they were staring at a poster of the singer’s “Eras Tour.”

TEDCO Announces Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products Pilot Program

Senators Cardin and Van Hollen requested more than $1 million to fund this new program

COLUMBIA, Md., (April 11, 2024) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, has received $1,150,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending to advance its Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products (FLLIP) Pilot Program. The direct spending request was sponsored by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and included in the Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Services and General Government funding bill, which was signed into law last month as part of a FY24 appropriations package.

“Maryland is home to more than 70 federal labs, from the NIH in Silver Spring to the Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research and the Army Medical Research and Development Command,” said Senator Cardin. “With this federal investment, we’re making it easier for traditionally underserved businesses in the healthcare industry to take full advantage of the resources right in their backyard. Community partnerships like the FLLIP Program drive innovation in the state and help build a more equitable, prepared and developed health care system.”

Pitchbook: 3 charts: The US has more startups than VCs can support

2024 may well become the year of the bootstrapped founder.

The startup “mass extinction event” that doomsayers have predicted for two years is likely to ramp up in 2024. New founders facing a brutal funding environment may instead opt to bootstrap their growth.

Over 55,000 VC-backed companies are operating in the US right now, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Many of them are aggressively competing for funding in a slow dealmaking landscape.

At the same time, over 2,000 VC firms effectively halted making new investments in startups in the first nine months of 2023. Approximately 3,200 startups failed in 2023, and there’s even a burgeoning industry dedicated to helping founders wind down their companies.

FDA establishes CDER Center for Clinical Trial Innovation (C3TI)

(4/15/2024) Today, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) announced the launch of the CDER Center for Clinical Trial Innovation (C3TI). C3TI’s mission is to promote CDER clinical trial innovation activities through enhanced communication and collaboration, both internally within CDER and externally.

“CDER’s long-standing efforts to embed innovation in clinical trial design and conduct into our regulatory work have been crucial in bringing new therapies to areas of unmet medical need,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of CDER. “We are eager to build on this foundation by launching C3TI to further spur the adoption of clinical trial innovation across industry and within CDER.”