July 14-15, 2015 - Bethesda, MD

MedCity ENGAGE has quickly become a destination for fresh thinking and the latest solutions for patient engagement and healthcare delivery. That’s due in large part to speakers who are both established and up-and-coming leaders, and includes those in the trenches of healthcare.

Here are just some of the ENGAGE speakers, who will cover an array of topics that will make you better able to implement your own patient engagement solutions.

Trophogen, Inc., a U.S.-based emerging biotechnology company founded in 2001, today announced that it was awarded the second year of its Phase 2 Fast Track component of $756,000 for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop novel VEGF analogs for targeted imaging of undifferentiated thyroid cancer. The two principal investigators, Dr. Mariusz W. Szkudlinski, Vice-President & CSO and Dr. Bruce D. Weintraub, President and CEO, have now brought their total NIH and FDA highly competitive SBIR funded grants to 10 for a total of nearly $10 million.

The Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea announced an agreement with industry partners, Marathon Oil Corporation, Noble Energy Inc. and AMPCO, to sponsor the clinical development of Sanaria® PfSPZ Vaccine against malaria, including a series of clinical trials from 2015 until 2018.

Malaria is one of the leading causes of infant and childhood mortality in the world, particularly in Africa. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2013 there were 198 million clinical cases and 584,000 deaths caused by malaria, primarily by Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Malaria directly reduces the Gross Domestic Product of African countries by at least 1 percent annually. This economic impact is estimated based on lives lost, healthcare costs, reduced learning capabilities by students, loss of worker productivity, and a range of other factors.

Baltimore gene analysis firm Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. has raised $4.32 million in a larger financing round underway.

The new funding is a convertible note that is part of a Series A financing round the company expects to complete later this year. Officials declined to give details about investors, the total amount the company seeks to raise or a timeline for closing the round.

Southern Research has been awarded a seven-year contract of up to $22 million to support research that could contribute to the cure of HIV disease. Under this contract, Southern Research will develop and standardize assays that quantitate latent reservoirs of HIV.

“This is a revolutionary area in HIV research that is opening up new avenues for us in infectious diseases,” said Southern Research President and CEO Art Tipton, Ph.D. “It supports our 24-year legacy in HIV drug discovery and development for government and pharmaceutical clients.”

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and Guidepoint today announced BD & Guidepoint Mentor, a new program providing selected start-up healthcare companies with free access to Guidepoint's expert network services.

BD is currently mentoring several start-ups that are developing cutting-edge technologies to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes and, with the help of a dedicated Guidepoint research manager, each start-up entrepreneur will be able to directly engage with industry experts across the entire healthcare ecosystem, gaining insights that help them shape their strategic plans.

GlaxoSmithKline is bringing on board the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Centre to work on a programme aimed at eradicating cancer stem cells to treat leukaemia and other diseases.

The bench-to-bedside project is part of GSK’s Discovery Partnerships with Academia programme, where academic partners become core members of drug-discovery teams to expedite promising basic research into drug discovery and development.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has provided critical contributions to critical challenges with systems engineering and integration, technology research and development, and analysis. Our scientists, engineers, and analysts serve as trusted advisors and technical experts to the government, ensuring the reliability of complex technologies that safeguard our nation’s security and advance the frontiers of space. We also maintain independent research and development programs that pioneer and explore emerging technologies and concepts to address future national priorities.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today in favor of a bipartisan bill that would speed the development of lifesaving drugs and medical devices and provide additional funding for biomedical research.

The bill, called the 21st Century Cures Act, includes provisions that attempt to make the drug approval process less unwieldy and also calls for an additional $8.75 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health. The bill passed by a 344-77 vote on Friday morning; it now moves to the Senate.

Learn about the Target Product Profile (TPP) – a tool used by many biomedical innovators to define, stage, and allocate resources to different aspects of product development work, to frame discussions with stakeholder groups, and to track regulatory interactions and milestones.

Ask questions via the chat window during the live event!

Dina Link may not be a household name, but she holds one of the most important jobs in the American economy: high school science teacher. At Northwest High School in Germantown, Md., she helps mold the next generation of scientists so that they can compete for jobs in an economy dominated by science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

The Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Health System is now accepting proposals for its "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" competition. Two top prizes of $50,000 each will be awarded to the winning presentations at the Third Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium in October.

The competition invites proposals from innovators – researchers, entrepreneurs, clinicians, and patient families – who have identified a significant, yet unmet medical device need within the pediatric population. For competition details, click here.

Secretary of Commerce Mike Gill is looking for an energetic and focused individual to lead the State's activities in the life sciences arena. This is a highly collaborative role. Its objective is to advance Maryland as the premier center for biotechnology innovation and entrepreneurial vitality in the nation. The position is based within the Department of Business and Economic Development, and reports to the Managing Director of Business and Industry Sector Development.

We are excited to be returning to Growlers in Gaithersburg this month for BioBuzz MoCo with our Sponsor Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII), a TEDCO program, as we host one of their “Meet TEDCO Program Managers Happy Hour“. The networking event will feature a short presentation followed by happy hour allowing you to network with program managers and your peers. MII is designed to foster the transition of promising technologies with significant commercial potential from the Maryland academic research institutions: Johns Hopkins, Morgan State, and University of Maryland College Park, Baltimore and Baltimore County campuses. The program is designed to promote commercialization of research conducted in the partnership universities and to leverage each institution’s strengths.

This morning as the House considers H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, more than 100 patient groups and organizations are voicing their support for the bill’s Innovation Fund to help boost research and support scientists. Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) has led this effort for a year and a half, keeping patients at the forefront from the beginning. Speaking in support of the bill last night, Upton said, “There is not a single person in this chamber or watching at home today who has not been touched by disease in some way. And it’s time we did something about it.” H.R. 6 is that something. The patient groups listed below voiced their opposition to any attempts to undermine these investments.

Tuesday, July 14th, 12 p.m. ET

In Silicon Valley, Big Data drives decisions. In health care, half the country runs on paper charts. In Silicon Valley, the biggest tech companies collaborate to drive innovation. In health care, applications barely talk to each other.

According to athenahealth EVP and COO, Ed Park, that needs to change. In this special webinar event, he’ll discuss: