Three years into President Wallace Loh’s campus-wide initiative to engage students of all majors in innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E), the University of Maryland has been named a Top 25 School for Entrepreneurship Studies by The Princeton Review.
In the 2016 rankings released today and featured in the December issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, UMD climbed 11 spots from last year to No. 10 for undergraduate entrepreneurship education. This marks the fifth consecutive year that UMD has been named a top 25 program, and the first time the university has ranked in the top 10. UMD also ranked No. 6 among public universities and No. 18 for its graduate program.
Johns Hopkins tech transfer is at the heart of a new agreement meant to bolster the development of a DNA-based vaccine for allergies.
Formally, Rockville-based Immunomic Therapeutics inked a licensing deal with Astellas Pharma, which will develop the allergy vaccine. Through the deal, Immunomic will receive an upfront payment of $300 million, and is entitled to 10 percent royalties from vaccine products developed. Astellas, a Japan-based pharmaceutical giant, gets the right to produce the vaccine worldwide.
San Diego-based Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, which is developing antifungal agents that treat life-threatening fungal infections, has raised $40.5 million in Series B funding. RiverVest Venture Partners led the round with participation from other investors that included New Enterprise Associates and BioMed Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Dr. Niall O’Donnell, managing director at RiverVest Venture Partners and Ed Mathers, a partner at New Enterprise Associates, were added to Amplyx’s board of directors.
Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUPN), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products for the treatment of central nervous system diseases, today announced that it has received notice that, effective following the close of trading on November 11, 2015, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) distributed an aggregate of 3,820,625 shares of Supernus Pharmaceuticals common stock to its partners. "The distribution announced today is a continuation of the actions NEA took in June 2015 to distribute a portion of its position to its limited partners after holding that position for over nine years," stated Jack Khattar, president and chief executive officer of Supernus. The NEA funds continue to hold 3,820,625 shares.
Martine Rothblatt is one of the founders of Sirius Satellite Radio and the founder and CEO of United Therapeutics, a biotechnology company. Rothblatt founded United Therapeutics in 1996 to find a cure for her daughter’s rare lung disease. In 2013, she was the highest paid female CEO in the United States. Rothblatt wrote her dissertation for her Ph.D. in medical ethics of xenotransplantation, the act of transferring cells, organs or tissues from one species to another species. She is also the founder of the Terasem Movement Foundation, a nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting the ethical use of nanotechnology for extending human life. She has written several books, including Apartheid of Sex on gender identity and Two Stars for Peace on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rothblatt came out as transgender in 1994. Last Thursday, Rothblatt sat down with students from various campus media organizations for an interview before speaking in Finney Chapel as a convocation speaker.
Boehringer Ingelheim is launching a new research and development (R&D) strategy and a five-year R&D investment programme. This new plan was announced today at its R&D press conference in Berlin. The company pledges to invest a total of 11 billion euros in its new R&D programme over the next five years. Of the total investment, 5 billion euros will go to preclinical R&D with 1.5 billion euro thereof planned for collaborations with external partners. The company is aiming to develop the next generation of medical breakthroughs and maintain its excellent competitive position. The new R&D strategy embraces open innovation in the form of external collaborations to better leverage emerging science and Boehringer Ingelheim’s experience and capabilities for the discovery of new medicines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Swiss drugmaker Roche's Cotellic to be used in combination with the company's Zelboraf drug to treat BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced melanoma.
Roche is counting on the addition of Cotellic to help it revive flagging sales of five-year-old Zelboraf, which dropped 25 percent during the first nine months of 2015 and has been under intense pressure from rivals' drugs as the standard of care moves to combination therapy.
The I-Corps™ at NIH program, supported by President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation, aims to support biomedical innovation and translation, with the goal of expediting the development and commercialization of a range of technologies to address the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. I-Corps™ participants will receive lessons on how to build a scalable business model as well as entrepreneurial trainings, and mentorship opportunities. In addition, modest funding will be provided to teams to assist them in translating their ideas from the lab into a viable product on the market and to help them avoid common failure points.
NHLBI Small Business programs support the development of new technologies from lab to market.
The NIH will host a webinar on the I-Corps™ at NIH program to provide information about the program, eligibility, benefits, and how to apply. Participants will also be offered an opportunity to engage with program leaders. Registration for the webinar is free, but required.
Lupus is a poorly-understood autoimmune disorder that is characterised by joint pain and swelling, rashes on the skin and extreme fatigue, with some patients experiencing intermittent flare-ups which can lead to severe and even life-threatening symptoms.
GSK reported new phase III data on a new subcutaneous formulation of its market-leading Benlysta (belimumab) product - which was approved as in one-hour infusion formulation for SLE in 2011, the first new therapy for the disease in five decades.
British biopharma startup NightstaRx, which develops gene therapy for inherited retinal dystrophies, just closed out a $35 million Series B led by New Enterprise Associates. The funding will help NightstaRx advance several gene therapies into human trials, as well as expand its existing clinical program for the treatment of choroideremia.
The company’s approach to gene therapy involves harnessing an adeno-associated viral vector to deliver a corrective gene into patients with inherited progressive blindness. Specifically, to treat choroideremia, NightstaRx delivers a wild-type copy of the Rab-escort protein 1 (REP-1) gene (AAV2-REP1) straight into the retinal cells.
The Chesapeake Regional Tech Council (CRTC) named a permanent leader to succeed former executive director Kris Shock.
Tami Howie assumed the helm of the Maryland organization, which looks to organize and connect the state’s tech sector, on Nov. 2.
The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine today announced the results of The Princeton Review's 10th annual survey that names the 25 undergraduate and 25 graduate schools best for entrepreneurship studies.
Babson College captured the #1 spot on the undergraduate entrepreneurship programs ranking list for the 4th consecutive year. Harvard University finished #1 on the graduate entrepreneurship programs list for the 2nd consecutive year.
A new report shows that participation of corporate venture capitalists in life sciences investing has been increasing.
The MoneyTree report from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers with data from Thomson Reuters show that in the nine months of the year, corporate VCs pumped a total of $1.18 billion into life sciences startups. Whereas in all of 2014, corporate VCs have shelled out $1.2 billion. Back in 1995, as far back as the MoneyTree report goes back, corporate VCs invested only $70.7 million dollars.
The University of Maryland has quietly started its next capital fundraising campaign with an eye on raising more than $1 billion.
In a wide-ranging conversation with the Washington Business Journal, President Wallace Loh said he hopes to build on his recent success, raising more than the record-setting multiyear "Great Expectations" campaign in the next three years. The campaign is in a quiet phase and won't be officially launched until at least half of the goal is raised.
If you’re tired of wearable fitness trackers fighting for space on your wrist, it might not be a problem in the near future: researchers say they can reliably measure your heart and breathing rates just by looking at data from a smartphone sitting in your pocket or bag.
Researchers at MIT are working on a project called BioPhone that derives these biological signals from your smartphone’s accelerometer, which they say can capture the small movements of your body that result from the beating of your heart and rising and falling of your chest. A paper on the work was presented at a conference in August.
A new experimental monoclonal antibody developed by AstraZeneca is being watched as a possible contender to shake up the market for lupus treatments—a neglected disease space—by offering a more targeted approach to treating lupus.
Over the past 60 years there has been only one new FDA-approved treatment for the inflammatory disease: The FDA granted marketing approval to GlaxoSmithKline's Benlysta in 2011.
California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the leading voice to drive innovation for California's life sciences sector, and PwC US today released the 2016 California Life Sciences Industry Report. The annual report indicates that California's life sciences sector has a profound impact on the state's economy, showing industry increases in the areas of sector employment growth, wages, research funding and life sciences venture investment.
The new report suggests that while biopharmaceutical and medical device employment in numerous top-ranked biotech states, including New York and Massachusetts, has decreased in recent years, sector employment in California grew by six percent between 2010 and 2014. Overall, California's life sciences sector directly employed 281,000 people in 2014 and indirectly employed another 581,000 – totaling nearly one million people employed due to life sciences innovation by Californians.
The University of Maryland has been named a finalist for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Innovation & Economic Prosperity University Awards this year in recognition of its commitment to promoting regional economic development. The advocacy association gives the awards to universities that use their resources to better society and engage their local community, according to a university news release.
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:
Notices:
- Notice of NIOSH/CDC Participation in PA-16-019 "Innovation Corps (I-Corps) at NIH Program for NIH and CDC Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grantees (Admin Supp)"
- (NOT-CD-16-001) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
- NHLBI Announces Small Business Topics of Special Interest (TOSI)
- Notice of Correction to Award Budget in PAR-16-026 "SBIR/STTR Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) Program: Technical Assistance (SB1)"
Requests for Applications:
- NHLBI Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium (U01)
- (RFA-HL-16-021) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- Application Receipt Date(s): February 08, 2016
- NHLBI Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium Coordinating Center (U24)
- (RFA-HL-16-022) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- Application Receipt Date(s): February 08, 2016
Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 08:00am - 05:00pm
You've read the books. You've watched the presentations. You've even done many presentations on your own. Now, you're at that last step — the war stories. Join Rick Kohr of Evergreen Advisors and Jason Tagler of Camden Partners to hear first-hand about the best and worst pitches. Jen Meyer of Betamore will moderate a discussion that focuses on the softer side of raising money, based on real-life experiences of Rick and Jason, so you can put yourself and your company on the institutional "Most Wanted" list.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 08:30am - 10:00pm
Don't miss this Good Morning Rockville. It is the first in a series of 4 events over the next year focusing on Systematizing Your Workplace:
Part 1 ~ Systematizing & Automating your Workplace
Part 2 ~ Coordinating Your Gadgets (Laptop -Tablet - Phone) ~ March 16th
Part 3 ~ Furniture Systems ~ June 2016
Part 4 ~ Office Technology Security ~ September 2016
Speakers are still TBD.
