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Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) announced today that it has closed on its acquisition of Bracco Diagnostics Inc.’s Healthcare Protective Products Division. This acquisition, which includes the RSDL® (decontamination lotion) product that is cleared for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for removal or neutralization of chemical warfare agents from the skin, diversifies and broadens Emergent’s biodefense franchise into the chemical countermeasure market.
“As a result of this transaction closing, Emergent is focused on the uninterrupted supply of RSDL product to customers and on the seamless integration of the new Healthcare Protective Products Group (HPPG) into our biodefense division,” said Adam Havey, EVP and president of Emergent’s biodefense division. “This news, which comes on the heels of other positive developments in our biodefense division, including receiving BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) market authorization in Germany as well as reporting positive data from our pivotal study supporting licensure of a post-exposure prophylaxis indication for BioThrax, reinforces Emergent’s leadership position in the biodefense arena.”
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Slices from thousands of brains fill nearly a dozen freezers set to 112 degrees below zero on the top floor of a research building at the Johns Hopkins Science + Technology Park.
Inside those slices might be the secrets to schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. On a recent morning, researchers with the Lieber Institute for Brain Development performed dissections of the amygdala, an almond-shaped mass of neurons thought to play a key role in such diseases.
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Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced an agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, under which Kolltan will in-license a monoclonal antibody targeting the Her3 receptor tyrosine kinase from MedImmune. Based on the current program status, Kolltan anticipates initiating Phase 1 clinical testing of this product in the first quarter of 2014.
“This in-licensing opportunity exemplifies our leadership in and focus on receptor tyrosine kinases and their key role in oncology and other serious diseases,” commented Dr. Jerry McMahon, Kolltan’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Kolltan will apply its extensive scientific expertise and R&D drug development experience to prepare for entry into the clinic, including a focus on patient selection strategies. Kolltan is excited to advance this innovative product candidate into clinical testing for the broad potential treatment of cancer patients where this target plays a role.”
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Maryland’s venture capital fund has announced that two tech companies in the state will get a total of $350,000.
Gov. Martin O’Malley made the announcement on Monday.
A Baltimore firm called SocialToaster has received approval for $200,000. The company specializes in social media and customer engagement.
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BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, and the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the world leader in laboratory quality assurance and improvement, today announced the launch of a new strategic alliance that will provide solutions to advance laboratory quality for improved patient outcomes in China and India. BD and CAP announced the collaboration during the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.
Laboratories play a critical role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease for the more than 2.5 billion people who live in China and India. The BD/CAP Strategic Alliance will improve access to external quality assurance/proficiency testing (PT) that can have a direct and positive impact on laboratory quality, and therefore, patient outcomes. Together BD and CAP will provide education to improve awareness of global practice standards and training that will help laboratories achieve their quality improvement goals. Additionally, BD will manage PT distribution, including sales, shipping, and first-line client service.
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Becton, Dickinson and Company is one of domain players of insulin syringes and other delivery devices, referring to the pie chart, Market Shares of the leading suppliers of Insulin Syringes and other delivery devices, 2009. Today, the market shares accounts 45% in the world, 80% in U.S. and Europe .
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Research organizations in the Great Seneca Life Sciences Corridor are considering the creation of a common cyberinfrastructure that would facilitate sharing and spur innovative ideas.
Anil Srivastava, president of Open Health Systems Laboratory on Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County campus, proposed the idea and held a meeting Monday with physicians, university faculty and representatives from Cisco Systems, Montgomery County government, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, MedImmune and other organizations.
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The University of Maryland University College announced Wednesday it will be the first in the state’s university system to create a path for students to earn academic credit for learning through “massive open online courses.”
The university is one of the nation’s largest public providers of online higher education with an enrollment of about 93,000 students.
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The founders of District startup hub 1776 have shopped around the idea of raising a $25 million seed fund — modeled partially off of 500 Startups — that would place initial bets as high as $150,000 on early-stage tech companies, according to an investor presentation obtained by the Washington Business Journal.
1776 co-founder Evan Burfield cautioned that the document is a draft, and that 1776 is not actively raising capital yet for the planned seed fund and accelerator. He stressed that officials there haven't arrived on a target for the size of the fund and that $25 million — and other figures in the document — are just one of several ideas they've contemplated.
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There’s a “No Vacancy” sign hanging out front University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s research and development park, and leaders say they have the state’s cyber security industry to thank.
University officials say the popularity of cyber security and growth in the number of young companies launching in that industry contributed to bwtech@UMBC’s popularity in recent years. The research and technology park is at capacity for the first time since it was established in 1989.
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Register now for the 3rd Annual Maryland Cyber Challenge
Live Finals! October 8 and 9, 2013 at the Baltimore Convention Center
- Three levels of team competition:
- high school (network defense)
- college, and professionals (capture the flag)
- Open to competitors across the United States, travel costs for finals are the team’s responsibility
- Lock in early for $50 discount team member names must be finalized by Monday, Sept. 9
- Competition schedule includes practice rounds, qualification rounds and a final cram session
- Team registration includes conference pass per team member and coach
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"Deidentified" data on individual participants in more than 200 GlaxoSmithKline-sponsored clinical trials are now available to independent researchers, company officials said.
And by the end of the year, the database is likely to include patient-level data from some 400 interventional trials, according to Perry Nisen, MD, PhD, and Frank Rockhold, PhD, of GSK's research division in King of Prussia, Pa.
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Funding and Research Opportunities
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notices:
Requests for Applications (RFA):
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The National Institutes of Health will fund up to $24 million per year for four years to establish six to eight investigator-initiated Big Data to Knowledge Centers of Excellence. The centers will improve the ability of the research community to use increasingly large and complex datasets through the development and distribution of innovative approaches, methods, software, and tools for data sharing, integration, analysis and management. The centers will also provide training for students and researchers to use and develop data science methods.
Biomedical research is increasingly data-intensive, with researchers routinely generating and using large, diverse datasets. Yet the ability to manage, integrate and analyze such data, and to locate and use data generated by others, is often limited due to a lack of tools, accessibility, and training. In response, NIH launched the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative in December. This initiative supports research, implementation, and training in data science that will enable biomedical scientists to capitalize on the transformative opportunities that large datasets provide. The investigator-initiated BD2K Center of Excellence funding opportunity is the first of several BD2K funding opportunities to be announced in coming months.
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Funding and Research Opportunities
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notices:
NOT-HL-13-183: Notice of Information: NHLBI Will Only Accept Resubmitted Applications for the Extended Expiration Date for PAR-10-234 Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP)(R01)
- The NHLBI will only accept resubmitted applications for the November 5, 2013 and January 7, 2014 (AIDS) standard due dates. Furthermore, all resubmission applications must come in on November 5, 2013 or January 7, 2014 (AIDS). NHLBI will not accept new, renewal or revision applications on November 5, 2013 and January 7, 2014.
NOT-OD-13-083: Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Pediatric Research (LRP-PR)
- The NIH invites qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in NIH mission-relevant research for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week, to apply for participation in the extramural LRP.
NOT-OD-13-081: Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (LRP-CR)
- The NIH invites qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in NIH mission-relevant research for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week, to apply for participation in the extramural LRP.
Request for Applications (RFA):
RFA-HL-14-001: Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics in Lung Diseases Stage II (CADET II)(UH2/UH3)
- The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite applications for Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics in Lung Diseases Stage II (CADET II). The goal of the CADET program is to accelerate the development of novel products for the treatment of lung diseases and sleep disordered breathing using strategies based on relevant pathobiologic processes.
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“All of us in the life sciences, medical device, and consumer industries are trying to get better at collaboration,” observed Robert Urban, PhD, head of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Innovation Center in Boston. For the Boston Innovation Center, which opened June 27, “getting better” includes enormous flexibility in the details of the early stage collaborative deals it inks with individual entrepreneurs, small companies and research institutions.
“A key focus is real adaptability. We strive to build collaborations that are unique to particular opportunities, based upon their specific needs. We have no preconceived notions regarding collaboration. Everything’s on the table,” Urban emphasized. Consequently, there’s no one typical deal or collaboration model. Instead, J&J’s team of business, scientific and transaction experts looks at each individual opportunity during their early stages to determine feasibility, fit within J&J’s goals and the best way to move forward.
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Rhode Island’s capital city should forget about becoming another Silicon Valley, venture capitalist Josh Kopelman said during a talk Tuesday at Betaspring, the business incubator in the Knowledge District.
It’s an unrealistic goal for Providence and the many other cities that aspire to become the nation’s next technology hub. But, said Kopelman, the founder and managing partner of First Round Capital, that doesn’t mean those communities can’t carve out their own niche in an industry that’s growing at a feverish pace.
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When Qiagen scooped up Ingenuity Systems this year, the acquisition of the Redwood City, California-based firm marked the first time the biotechnology giant had purchased a firm that exclusively makes software.
The purchase allows Qiagen to analyze information it derives from the genetic maps of organisms, which can be used to detect variations and mutations that point to the cause of certain diseases or new ways to treat them.
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Innovation is a hot topic in organizations today. And no wonder. Customers want new and different. Costs can’t be reduced any further. Business pressures abound. The economic picture is spotty. Competition is fierce.
Innovation to the rescue!
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A new class of medicines could give doctors the ability to awaken underperforming genes in patients who currently have no treatment options.
Boston-area startup RaNA Therapeutics is developing a novel kind of medicine that can boost the activity of genes that may be silenced or underactive and thus cause disease. The medicine would use a small RNA-like molecule that blocks the function of a long RNA molecule that is hampering the expression of such a gene.
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 The RESI conference is poised to be one of the more unique events in the life sciences space this coming fall. This full-day investor partnering conference is groundbreaking in that it is focused on redefining the investor landscape in early stage life sciences. As all of us in the industry are aware, the life science investor landscape has changed; venture capital has left a void and there is a plethora of new entities entering the space with capital to allocate.
This conference has assembled these players - Senior decision-makers from some of the largest pharmaceutical & device companies, patient groups, philanthropic organizations, investment banks, and family offices will all be joining the action on September 16th. The conference will also have representation from next-generation technology transfer, licensing and funding experts, and there will be a free fund-raising boot camp. We urge all biotech and medtech readers to take a look at the program, and to take some time out to reeducate themselves regarding the new landscape unfolding in the life science investor arena.
Biohealth Innovation has been able to secure Earlybird pricing for our readership through August 30th via this link - We look forward to meeting you in September!
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