Biohealth Innovation - 307th Edition

BioHealth Innovation

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June 8, 2018

BioHealth in MoCo: Strength in Numbers (PDF)

Biotechnology and life sciences discoveries are deeply embedded in our DNA. MoCo is home to a thriving global hub, where life-saving innovations emerge every day. Our BioHealth clusters have more than 10,000 employees working in the private sector and an estimated 49,000 in federal government agencies along Montgomery County’s I-270 corridor, a lively and growing biohealth hotbed.

Top 50 NIH-Funded Institutions of 2018 | The Lists | GEN

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests nearly $37.3 billion annually in medical research. More than 80% of the funding is awarded through nearly 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every U.S. state and around the world.

Investment, Innovation and Job Creation in a Growing U.S. Bioscience Industry

The bioscience industry represents the unique confluence of key characteristics for societal and economic progress—extremely high levels of innovation that are saving and improving lives through advancements in biomedical, energy and advanced food and industrial technologies; and expanding a wide mix of employment opportunities with wages and incomes that support a high standard of living. The industry thinks big and is addressing a host of global grand challenges related to diagnosing, treating and curing disease; ensuring a safe, affordable and more sustainable food supply; and leveraging biotechnologies and sustainable approaches to develop biobased fuels, chemicals and other industrial products.

Useful Stats: SBIR/STTR awards by Metro (2013-2017) - Maryland Ranked #3

Last week, SSTI examined the geography of “America’s Seed Fund,” the SBIR/STTR awards, on a state-by-state basis. A look at how the more than 25,500 awards were distributed at the regional level over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 yields additional insight. The metropolitan areas with the largest concentrations of SBIR/STTR awards include knowledge hubs with large universities and access to federal R&D, such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. Smaller regions with a large federal R&D presence, like Huntsville, Alabama, Santa Maria, California and Dayton, Ohio also rank highly.

BHI Job Opportunity: Executive Administrator

This position reports to and works directly with the President & CEO and in close collaboration with the Director of Finance and Managing Director, Economic Development. The Executive Administrator also works closely with other staff members to ensure smooth operations and effective collaboration. As the representative of BioHealth Innovation, the Executive Administrator will provide administrative work in coordination with external leaders, constituents and board members.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to jobs@biohealthinnovation.org.

GlycoMimetics prices $119m public offering - MassDevice

GlycoMimetics (NSDQ:GLYC) priced an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock at $17.00 apiece today, reporting that it expects to bring in $119 million from the offering.

Emergent BioSolutions Announces $50 Million Expansion of Baltimore Fill/Finish Facility NYSE:EBS

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the beginning of a $50 million expansion to the company’s Camden fill/finish facility located in Baltimore, Md. The multi-year expansion is expected to be completed in 2021, and will significantly increase the company’s contract development and manufacturing capacity, redundancy, and flexibility. This expansion is also anticipated to create up to 60 new jobs in the next three years.

Noble Life Sciences Selects Comprehensive Suite of Preclinical Software Solutions from Instem | Business Wire

Instem, a leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, is pleased to announce that Noble Life Sciences, Inc. (Noble) has purchased a comprehensive package of preclinical software solutions, including Provantis®, the market leading preclinical data management system.

Sonavex Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for EchoMark & EchoMark LP Tissue Markers - Sonavex

Sonavex, Inc., a privately held medical device company focused on improving surgical patient outcomes with point-of-care imaging technologies, announced today that it received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its EchoMark and EchoMark LP soft tissue markers.

Emerging Therapeutic Company Investment and Deal Trends

With more than 90% of the biopharmaceutical industry made up of small, emerging companies, it is important for BIO to better understand early-stage investor and deal-making trends in order to determine where scientific or policy issues may be impacting the industry’s ability to maintain a robust pipeline of innovative medicines. The ability to access capital and form strategic alliances is vital for small therapeutic-focused companies to succeed in translating novel drug candidates into approved medical products for patients.

VLP Therapeutics is Recognized by the Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) “Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2017” – VLP Therapeutics

VLP Therapeutics is Recognized by the Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) “Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2017” VLP Therapeutics was recently recognized as one of eleven companies that exemplify Japan’s commitment to Innovation as outlined in the 2017 Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

Ceres Nanosciences reaches product development milestone for point-of-care Lyme disease test and closes on an additional $5.5M of Series A funding.

Ceres Nanosciences (Ceres) is announcing today that it has reached a key product development milestone for its Nanotrap® Lyme Antigen Test System. The Nanotrap® Lyme Antigen Test System will proceed into manufacturing and analytical performance testing this year and is on track for clinical study and FDA submission in 2019.

You're Invited! 2018 Inova Discovery Series: Early Stage Investing in Health Technology

We invite you to join us for the first event of the 2018 Inova Discovery Series: Early Stage Investing in Health Technology on Thursday, June 21, 2018, at the Inova Center for Personalized Health located at 3225 Gallows Road Fairfax, VA 22031.

Information Session for the Master of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship

Are you interested in leading innovation within an established company or creating your own startup company?

Explore the online Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Applications for the fall 2018 entering class are due by June 15, 2018.

Partnership Between Maryland Stem Cell Program and Bio-Trac Continues to Grow Through Sponsorship of Upcoming Workshops | Tedco

Bio-Trac, biotechnology training solutions company, announced the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund at TEDCO will partner on three stem cell related training programs: Gene Editing iPSCs and NSCs with CRISPR, Hepatocytes Derived from Human iPSCs, and Generating The Neural Lineage From iPSCs.

GSK to host the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership conference - EPM Magazine

The conference is aimed at bringing together global companies to showcase the successes and future innovation of the innovative medicines manufacturing sector, which is already worth £30 billion to the economy.

Johns Hopkins, Betamore, UMB select a cohort of startups for Baltimore's newest accelerator program Trajectory Next - Baltimore Business Journal

Betamore, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and the University of Maryland, Baltimore have launched the first cohort of a new collaborative accelerator program, called Trajectory Next.

Kinometrix lands Inova Personalized Health Accelerator’s second investment - Washington Business Journal

The company will receive $75,000 in exchange for up to 10 percent equity, plus incubation space and a customized growth strategy.

Pfizer commits $600 mln to VC unit - PE Hub

New York City-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc is planning on investing $600 million in biotechnology and other emerging growth companies through Pfizer Ventures. About 25 percent of the funding will focus on neuroscience.

How NIH is Organizing Its Enormous Troves of Data - Nextgov

The National Institutes of Health on Monday announced a sweeping initiative to revamp the way it manages data in an effort to foster the adoption of artificial intelligence, supercomputing and other technologies poised to transform medical research.

How Israel Became a World Leader in Biotechnology - The Times of Israel

Renowned worldwide for its technological prowess in fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, IT, and smart mobility, Israel is also continuing to gain recognition for its invaluable contributions to the worlds of biotechnology and the life sciences – technologies which help improve healthcare and quality of life for millions worldwide.

WIB-Capital Region Hosts Baltimore Mixer

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 - 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EST

It's been a wonderful spring for Women In Bio in Baltimore. Local organizers have put on amazing morning meet-ups featuring outstanding women scientists-entrepreneurs and business leaders. Let's cap off this "season" with a Capital Region chapter-wide event. At this evening mixer, we'll get to know each other more and meet new people in the bio scene in Baltimore and beyond.

How to find biotech startup cash, with or without traditional VCs

Skim the headlines, and you might get the impression that the biotech startup world revolves around an insider’s club of Midas-listed venture capitalists.

Not true.

CMS, HHS and FDA to tech innovators: Here's how to win federal agencies as customers | Healthcare IT News

Healthcare focused startups and government agencies got together in the same room here for HHS Startup Day and each group brought some hard-earned advice for the other.

Mary Meeker's 2018 Internet Trends report: Key takeaways | ZDNet

Mary Meeker, leading technology analyst and partner at venture firm KIeiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), released her annual internet trends report on Wednesday. As usual, the lengthy compilation of Internet prognostications offers a comprehensive look at the current digital technology landscape and what tech trends to expect next. Here are a few highlights.

Rent hikes could force out UCity labs - Philadelphia Inquirer - Philly Edition, 2018-05-31

Philadelphia’s old brick residential neighborhoods aren’t the only part of the city that’s being gentrified.

The same thing is happening to University City’s rental lab space, where some rents are quadrupling. It’s a sign of success and the flood of investment boosting biotech firms. But it’s also a threat to startups that could force brainy startup leaders to flee to cheap space in the suburbs or go out of state, some university officials, start-up founders and young scientists say.

Chinese sister state promoting more trade with Maryland | MarylandReporter.com

When Gov. Harry Hughes went to Anhui Province in China in 1980, it became Maryland’s first foreign sister state, and China’s first province to connect with an American state, the beginning of many steps in its engagement with the United States.

Life sciences companies could see changes in collaborations with new accounting standard - Boston Business Journal

Regulatory and competitive uncertainties in the marketplace lead many life sciences companies to enter into collaborative arrangements with other companies to develop new drugs or medical devices. These arrangements allow for the leverage of expertise that may not have been available in-house – such as a pharmaceutical company that sees promising new science from a biotech startup – while also sharing in the costs and risks of new product development.

Gene therapy is saving children’s lives—but screening to discover who needs it is lagging behind - MIT Technology Review

Fifteen children born with a rare muscle-wasting disease would probably not be alive today if not for an experimental treatment that tweaked their genes shortly after they were born.

Servier Announces Launch of Servier BioInnovation in the U.S. | Business Wire

Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company, today announced the appointments of Christian Schubert, Ph.D. and Rekha Paleyanda, Ph.D., as Directors of Servier BioInnovation along with the opening of the Servier BioInnovation office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The appointments of Dr. Schubert and Dr. Paleyanda, who will head Servier’s U.S. R&D and external innovation, and business development and licensing (BD&L) activities respectively, will operationalize the launch of Servier BioInnovation in the U.S. Located in the heart of one of the world’s leading biotechnology hubs in the Cambridge Innovation Center at Kendall Square, Servier BioInnovation will lead Servier’s expansion efforts into the U.S. innovation ecosystem.

The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine Launches Foundation to Promote Understanding and Acceptance of Potentially Curative Cell and Gene Therapies

As part of its ongoing efforts to accelerate patient access to safe, effective, and potentially curative gene therapies, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) today announced the launch of the ARM Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine. This independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of the clinical and societal benefits of cell and gene medicine -- including gene therapy, gene editing, cell therapy, tissue-engineering, and organ regeneration -- and supporting its development through education and research projects.

Expanding horizons for risk management in pharma - McKinsey & Company

Risk management has become a top-of-mind issue for C-suites and boards around the world—nowhere more than in pharmaceutical companies. In a politically and economically turbulent environment, the risks pharma companies face, especially in clinical-trial design and execution, drug approval, product quality, and global commercial practices, are increasing in both frequency and magnitude.

Paying tribute to the failures, as we search for new brain cancer therapies - LinkedIn

Today – May 31 – marks the end of Brain Tumor Awareness month. It’s a special time each year to educate the public and to reflect on the impact the disease has on patients, their families and friends.