Biohealth Innovation
The Biden administration announced the launch of a new national program dedicated to fortifying America’s biotechnology manufacturing industry in the latest executive effort to keep U.S. supply chains competitive.
Introduced Sunday via executive order, the Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative focuses on a specific biomanufacturing process that uses microorganisms to create chemicals and compounds that contribute to make medicines, fuels and other input materials.
As the number of monkeypox cases around the world has ballooned since early May, so too has the list of diagnostic developers rapidly churning out tests for the virus.
Latest to join the likes of Labcorp, Roche, BD, Cepheid and others in that mission is Qiagen, which announced this week the launch of a monkeypox assay of its own. The test is designed to be analyzed by the company’s QIAstat-Dx PCR testing system.
Image: The QIAstat-Dx Viral Vesicular Panel is indicated for research use only, making Qiagen’s test available to the approximately 3,000 laboratories around the world that already have QIAstat-Dx PCR analyzers installed. (Qiagen)
NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ( NYSE: ARE), the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, agtech and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, is proud to recognize and celebrate multiple significant milestones from its position of leadership in New York City's commercial life science cluster. These milestones include (1) 20 years since Alexandria Venture Investments made its first NYC venture investment in Intra-Cellular Therapies' Series A financing in 2002; (2) 17 years since Alexandria was awarded the New York City Economic Development Corporation's (NYCEDC) request for proposal (RFP) in 2005 to develop and operate what the company has transformed into the Alexandria Center® for Life Science – New York City, the city's first and only commercial life science campus; (3) 12 years since the Alexandria Center officially opened to welcome its first tenants in 2010; and (4) five years since it unveiled the inaugural site of Alexandria LaunchLabs®, the company's world-class life science startup platform, at the Alexandria Center in 2017, which was followed by Columbia University's election in 2019 to establish a second NYC-based Alexandria LaunchLabs site on the university's medical school campus.
– Winner to be announced as part 2022 BioHealth Capital Region Forum –
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, September 12, 2022 – A panel of investor judges and anROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, September 12, 2022 – A panel of investor judges and anaudience of industry leaders will gather for the presentations of five early-stage companiesat the 7th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap Competition at US Pharmacopeia onSeptember 21st in Rockville, Maryland. Created in 2016, the competition highlights thecommercialization potential of biohealth technologies throughout the region and beyond.
New York, NY, September 6, 2022 | Gradian Health Systems (Gradian) is proud to announce a strategic relationship with Canon Virginia Inc. (CVI). This announcement marks the collaboration of two mission driven organizations, with a common goal of addressing disparities within healthcare globally.
This collaboration builds on Gradian’s decade plus work developing and supporting medical technology in resource-limited settings and CVI’s 37 years of established manufacturing excellence and medical device expertise. CVI will assume manufacturing operations for Gradian’s flagship product, the UAM, an anesthesia machine designed to work in the absence of electricity and medical oxygen, and establish manufacturing operations for Gradian’s newest product – the K-O2. CVI plans to be in full scale production of both products by the end of 2022. The UAM and K-O2 are specifically designed to better enable access to anesthesia and oxygen therapy, respectively, by addressing resource constraints that often prevent medical providers from being able to deliver continuous care for patients.
President Joe Biden plans to appoint longtime biologist and former government scientist Renee Wegrzyn as the first director of the nascent Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
Biden’s announcement comes as ARPA-H advocates debate where the multibillion-dollar agency should be headquartered and which elusive disease areas should be prioritized. The president officially launched the agency in March with $1 billion in initial funding allotted by Congress, but the search for its inaugural director has taken months.
Image: Renee Wegrzyn will serve as the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. WHITE HOUSE PHOTO
GERMANTOWN, Md., Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deka Biosciences ("Deka"), a biotech company focused on the development of novel cytokine therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, announced today the appointment of Charlotte Moser, MD, PhD, MSc, MBA as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Deb Kientop, MBA as Vice President, Clinical Operations.
Charlotte Moser, MD, PhD, MSc, MBA, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Deb Kientop as Vice President, Clinical Operations at Deka Biosciences "We are proud to have both Charlotte and Deb joining Deka during this exciting time," said John Mumm, Chief Executive Officer, Deka. "Both come to Deka with strong experience, knowledge and expertise, which will help to deliver life-saving therapies to patients, and drive expansion of our platform, and overall growth of Deka."
Image: Charlotte Moser, MD, PhD, MSc, MBA, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Deb Kientop as Vice President, Clinical Operations at Deka Biosciences
A subsidiary of United Therapeutics ($UTHR) has placed an order for up to 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Chinese manufacturer EHang. The plan is to use the UAVs, flying vehicles more commonly known as drones, to ship manufactured lungs and other organs from production facilities to hospitals for transplantation.
The National Institutes of Health has issued two new funding opportunities for diagnostic test manufacturers to develop the next generation of COVID-19 tests, with a major focus on accessibility. The funding opportunities are part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program, managed by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The new programs may award up to $300 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to support the accelerated development of tests and provide regulatory guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
September 07, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc. (“APT”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company controlling the world’s largest therapeutic phage library initiative and dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced “The AMR RAPID™ Challenge” at the World AMR Congress. RAPID is APT’s acronym for Rapidly Adaptive Phage for Infectious Disease.
Through this challenge, APT will pay $1,000 to any individual or institution in the clinical research community that identifies a strain of bacteria (within the CDC's most serious and urgent biological threat categories -- i.e., the "ESKAPE" pathogens*) for which APT cannot demonstrate sensitivity to with its phage bank. Applicants to the AMR RAPID™ Challenge should contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information, rules, and conditions or visit phagebank.com.
Agreement supports the development of molecules targeting acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, human papilloma virus (HPV) associated tumors, and additional human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) that have the potential to increase immunotherapy options for patients
September 08, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
GENEVA & GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Selexis SA, a JSR Life Sciences company, and NexImmune Inc. (Nasdaq: NEXI), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing unique approaches to T cell immunotherapies, announced today that they have signed a service agreement to develop cell lines targeting rare cancers and autoimmune diseases and to advance two HLAs that can be used to expand treatments to more patients. Per the agreement, NexImmune will leverage Selexis’ SUREtechnology Platform™, a suite of cell line development technologies that significantly reduce the time, effort, and costs associated with developing high-performance mammalian cell lines.
I'm pleased to share with you JHTV's annual report for Fiscal Year 2022. As we returned to the office last year and The Johns Hopkins University came back to life, we wanted to celebrate the vibrancy of the innovation environment on our campuses and our connection to the broader Baltimore startup ecosystem. As we see new technologies, new companies and new alumni launch from our Homewood and East Baltimore campuses, so, too, do we see the city continue to become a growing hub for innovation.
LEIDEN, September 8, 2022 - MIMETAS, a global leader in organ-on-chip-based disease models for drug discovery and development, has appointed Dhaval Patel as Chair of its Board of Directors.
Dhaval Patel is Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at UCB, Belgium, clinical professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and former Head of Research for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Europe.
Just Funded selected the organizations listed in this article based on:
Shannon Wolfson from BlueCloudTV Interviews Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder and CEO of Jeeva eClinical Cloud. The story behind the company and the vision to increase diversity in clinical trials.
On its first day as a publicly traded company Wednesday, Rockville-based Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SHPH) saw its shares climb a staggering 373% to close at $38.48. At one point late Wednesday, its shares were trading at above $65 — up more than 700% from their opening price.
In after-hours trading Wednesday, the stock was down about 17% from its close and trading around $32 a share.
The eye-popping gains came on a day when all the major U.S. stock indexes fell.
Brett Shealy, Executive Director of the Life Sciences Banking Team with J.P.Morgan, joins Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss his Career, BioHealth Investment, and the upcoming 2022 BioHealth Capital Region Forum/Investment Conference/Crab Trap.
Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3cK8ScJ, Google https://bit.ly/3etce4h, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3cNdIpo, Amazon Podcasts https://amzn.to/3eucMXi, or TuneIn https://bit.ly/3Rj8wIJ
The first time Kurt Newman walked into the Children’s National Hospital atrium as a thirtysomething surgical fellow in 1984, he felt like he was home. He didn’t want to leave.
Nearly four decades later, Newman is announcing his retirement as the D.C. pediatric hospital’s president and CEO.
Image: Dr. Kurt Newman, president and CEO of Children's National Hospital, has spent 11 years in the role. EMAN MOHAMMED
Thank you for your interest in joining the Entrepreneurship Lab Equity Incubator at the Universities at Shady Grove! We will be accepting teams and individuals. You may apply individually, although we recommend having at least one other team member.
For this program, we are inviting individuals who identify with a gender, racial/ethnic, or other identity which, historically has not been dominant in receiving entrepreneurship support. We do this because we aim to create a collaborative, diverse cohort of entrepreneurs that can contribute unique perspectives in a supportive environment as we foster new venture formation and growth.
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) today announced that it has dosed the first participant in its Phase 1 study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of EBS-LASV, a recombinant VSV-vectored Lassa virus vaccine candidate being developed for prevention of disease caused by Lassa virus infection. Emergent and CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) are co-funding this program.
“Over the last 24 years, Emergent’s mission to protect and enhance life and commitment to help mitigate public health threats have remained unchanged,” said Kelly Warfield, Ph.D., SVP for research and development at Emergent BioSolutions. “We are proud to deploy our product development and partnering capabilities to address emerging infectious diseases like Lassa fever, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or therapeutic, and to advance our pipeline for patients.”
Germantown, Maryland, and Hilden, Germany, September 5, 2022 -- QIAGEN today announced the winners of its second Young Investigator Awards (YIA). The winner and two runners-up were recognized for their outstanding scientific work using next-generation sequencing (NGS) in human identification (HID). The competition encourages and supports new generations of forensic scientists who show potential to make a lasting impact on human identity and forensics. The three finalists were honored during the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) Congress in Washington D.C.
The 2022 Young Investigator Award went to Maria Martin Agudo, a PhD candidate at the Department of Forensic Sciences (Forensic Genetics Research Group), Oslo University Hospital in Norway. Haley Omeasoo from The University of Montana, USA and Chiara Fantinato from the Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital, Norway, were the two runners-up. All three finalists received all-inclusive invitations to the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) Congress.
GENOME WEB, CHICAGO, IL, September 1, 2022 - - After nine years in business, precision medicine company AMPEL BioSolutions is broadening its market from pharmaceutical companies to healthcare providers and their patients.
This summer, the firm had an early-access release of a series of gene expression tests coupled with analysis and clinical decision support, starting with LuGene®, a blood test for systemic lupus erythematosus, and DermaGene®, a skin biopsy test to differentiate between several dermatological conditions including psoriasis, scleroderma, and atopic dermatitis.
The Richmond region has won a $52.9 million federal grant to create a hub for research and advanced manufacturing of essential medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients.
The White House announced the grant to the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority on Friday. It is among 21 projects that will receive grants from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, using a $1 billion fund created under the American Rescue Plan Act to generate economic opportunities in disadvantaged communities that need them.
The grant will support six projects in the proposed Advanced Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Cluster, an initiative aimed at bringing new manufacturing opportunities to Petersburg, supporting research at the Virginia Bio + Tech Park in Richmond and boosting work by the Medicines for All Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University to build a national supply of essential medicines.
Through a new partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and the U.K.’s National Health Service, the chip maker Nvidia plans to build Great Britain’s most powerful supercomputer—and dedicate its use to artificial intelligence research in healthcare.
Dubbed Cambridge-1, the machine is designed to deliver 400 petaflops of performance, or 400 quadrillion floating-point calculations per second.
When presented with dense systems of linear equations used in AI—such as simulations of molecular models and chemical interactions among potential drug compounds—it is expected to provide 8 petaflops of supercomputing power, ranking it number 29 on the list of the world’s fastest.
Image: Nvidia's Cambridge-1 is expected to come online before the end of the year as the most powerful supercomputer in the U.K. and the 29th fastest in the world. GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca are slated as the first to receive access. (Nvidia)
Startup founders and investors are looking at what could be a murky investment outlook over the next few months or quarters. Slowing markets, rising interest rates and turmoil abroad has caused fluctuation in the markets. While the tech sector may continue providing growth opportunity long term, the near term may also be volatile enough that many founders and investors might be forced to take a different path than originally planned.
DURHAM, N.H.—Angel investors—wealthy individuals who provide essential funds for start-ups—often invest under conditions of extreme uncertainty. While their funds can be vital to early-stage ventures, researchers at the University of New Hampshire found that angels’ egos can play a significant role in their investment decisions—the bigger the ego, the larger and more diverse the deal and the lower the number of co-investors.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, August 31, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Virginia Venture Partners, the equity investment program of Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), today announced an investment in Manassas, Va.-based Jeeva. Jeeva provides a scalable eClinical Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that helps sponsors and contract research organizations (CROs) accelerate flexible clinical operations while minimizing burden on site staff and patients. Jeeva will use this investment towards commercialization of the SaaS platform to accelerate therapy development for therapeutic areas such as rare diseases, immunology, and oncology in the U.S. and in emerging markets such as Latin America and India, where the company has recently established strategic partnerships.
In about 30 days, one of the longest running and most successful small business programs will expire.
The House will have 14 days in September with votes scheduled to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program when it returns to Washington, D.C. after Labor Day. Meanwhile, the Senate reconvenes on Sept. 6 and doesn’t spell out how many days it plans to be in D.C. and voting on bills.
To be sure, the fate of the SBIR program hangs in the balance of what Congress can do by Sept. 30.
Emergent BioSolutions is set to add the only FDA-approved smallpox vaccine to its portfolio through a $125 million deal with vaccine giant Sanofi Pasteur.
The agreement means Emergent will inherit an existing CDC contract to build the national stockpile. That 10-year, $425 million contract has around $160 million left to be fulfilled before it ends in 2018. Emergent expects to negotiate a multiyear renewal as part of its involvement in the U.S. government’s counter-bioterrorism effort.
The company expects to raise nearly $10 million in the stock sale.
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, August 31, 2022 – BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) is pleased to welcome Olivia Meyer, M.S., as a new Life Sciences Business Analyst at the NIH Office of Extramural Research. Olivia will be evaluating the commercial potential of emerging technologies and providing recommendations on go-to-market strategies.
The past few years in the biotech industry have been filled with challenges and promise.
From the rapid and successful deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine and the explosion of the cell and gene therapy sector to a hiring boom, remarkable advances in tissue engineering and strong biomanufacturing growth, the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) has played a pivotal role in it all.
To say a lot has changed is the understatement of the century. The question remains, however: Where is the BHCR headed?
Since BHI's founding in 2011, the organization has had many interns come through the doors in support of Analytics, Marketing, Communications, Social Media, Business, Legal, Accounting, and more.
BHI wanted to give an update on some names you may remember if you worked with us over the years.
Crab Trap Judges and Sponsors, Sally Allain, MSc., MBA Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, Srujana Cherukuri, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Noble Life Sciences, Inc. & Lora Green, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, join Rich Bendis on BioTalk to preview the event taking place live on September 21st, 2022 at USP in Rockville. For the first time in its history, this year’s Crab Trap winner will be eligible for a package of prizes worth more than $50,000.
Prizes for the qualifying Crab Trap winner include:
Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3Kr1FKU, Google https://bit.ly/3e46gGS, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3ctQ4Os, or Amazon Podcasts https://amzn.to/3qbvtSB
Pioneering life science projects focused on improving pediatric care will be on display at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus when the hospital hosts its 2022 Innovation Day on Friday, August 26. Hosted by Children’s National Innovation Ventures, the program’s goal is to showcase life sciences and healthcare projects that are mature enough to look for a co-developer, strategic partner, investor or licensing vehicle.
“For us, a successful Innovation Day means we are able to match these entrepreneurs with the strategic partner they need at this stage of their device development journey,” says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A., P.M.P., vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital and executive director of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.
ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today announced Maryland programs funded by the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) are open. Up to $198 million in federal small business relief is being administered by three state agencies: the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Maryland Department of Commerce, and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). These agencies will use funds to expand and enhance nine existing state business lending and investment programs.