Biohealth Innovation
The Maryland Innovation Initiative on Monday named a new board chair and unveiled its first two programs designed to provide funding to support the commercialization of technologies at five universities in the state.
Robert Hallenbeck, vice president of BD Biosciences, has been appointed to chair of the organization. Patrick O’Shea, vice president and chief research officer at the University of Maryland, College Park has been named vice chair.
Singer Art Garfunkel, a real estate magnate and an investor are putting $2 million in gold bullion on the line to inspire researchers to cure blindness by 2020, establishing through Johns Hopkins Medicine one of the world's largest prizes for a scientific advancement.
The men, one-time roommates at Columbia University, intend for the prize to trigger research into the variety of diseases that cause blindness — 80 percent of which are preventable — in 39 million people around the world.
Dr. Peter McDonnell, director and ophthalmology professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, said Friday that the time between this week's announcement and the day the prize will be awarded is exactly the same period, 2,978 days, from President John F. Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon and Neil Armstrong's first steps on its surface.
Entrepreneurship: It’s a buzzword on a lot of college campuses, in executive boardrooms, and among venture capitalists, franchisers, advocates and believers in the American dream of self-sufficiency and inventiveness that pays off. But really—what is it?
At the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business, entrepreneurship is being redefined—it’s no longer enough to claim to be an entrepreneur as a result of an affinity for creativity, or an impulse to start projects with the hope that they bear fruit. Today’s entrepreneur—and tomorrow’s business leader—is intensely focused on business basics, like competitive pricing, financial forecasting, IT and human resources, and is fusing those skills with the kind of innovation that can prove to be a game changer.
Maryland, Virginia and the District raised a collective $215.7 million in venture funding in the third quarter, slipping from the $245.7 million raised in the same period last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s MoneyTree report.
The bulk of last quarter’s total came from six deals in the double-digit millions, led by the $50 million investment in Columbia, Md.-based Tenable Network Security Inc. by Accel Partners. The quarter saw a marginal boost from the three months prior, during which companies pulled in $206 million (or, $202 million, according to PWC's updated data, which is sometimes revised slightly from quarter to quarter).
Synovex Corp., a drug developer, has raised $3.50 million, or 50 percent of a $7 million share offering, from five investors, according to an SEC filing.
Principals named in the filing by the Cambridge-based company are:
The University of Maryland released details today on the recovery of Richard Lee Norris, the 37-year-old man who received the most extensive full face transplant completed to date seven months ago. Norris, of Hillsville, Virginia, was injured in a 1997 gun accident, losing much of his upper and lower jaws as well as his lips and nose. The transplant surgery, completed on March 20, 2012 at the University of Maryland Medical Center, included replacement of both jaws, teeth, tongue, and skin and underlying nerve and muscle tissue from scalp to neck.
"For the past 15 years I lived as a recluse hiding behind a surgical mask and doing most of my shopping at night when less people were around," says Norris. "I can now go out and not get the stares and have to hear comments that people would make. People used to stare at me because of my disfigurement. Now they can stare at me in amazement and in the transformation I have taken. I am now able to walk past people and no one even gives me a second look. My friends have moved on with their lives, starting families and careers. I can now start working on the new life given back to me."
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Northrop Grumman Foundation today announced they are partnering to launch the UMBC Cyber Scholars program, which is to be housed in the university's new Cybersecurity Center, and run in partnership with the UMBC Center for Women in Technology. This new initiative is an extension of an already-strong partnership in cyber-related activities that has developed between UMBC, the foundation and Northrop Grumman, and includes the Cync program, a start-up business incubator dedicated to cultivating companies that develop innovative solutions to counter the global cyber threat.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. plans to cut an additional 97 positions in Rockville later this year, and more layoffs could be on the way, the biotech company told the state’s labor department on Wednesday.
The jobs to be eliminated are part of an ongoing internal restructuring plan, according to the notice with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The layoffs will begin on Dec. 15.
New Health Sciences has big plans.
The Bethesda biotech is eyeing a $310 million revenue stream after 2015 should its storage system for red blood cells pass its clinical trials. And CEO Martin Cannon envisions a potential stock sale of $30 million, should the company go public in the next few years.
Cannon was among the Maryland bioscience executives sharing their success stories, due in part to federal funding, during the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s Innovation Conference on Monday at Johns Hopkins University’s Rockville campus.
The gathering was hosted by BioHealth Innovation, a Rockville nonprofit private-public partnership that links bioscience companies and research institutions, and Prescience International of San Francisco.
Chevy Chase-based venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates is opening an office in Chicago and is making another investment in a Chicago-area startup.
NEA, which says it has been investing in Chicago businesses for more than 25 years, led a $35 million investment in online and mobile payment company Braintree Payment Solutions LLC.
Science Applications International Corp. has won a $13 million contract to provide modeling support to the Naval Health Research Center.
This is the company's second contract award with the Naval Health Research Center in just two days. Yesterday, the company was awarded $24 million toward research that will account for the physiological and psychological health of soldiers in extreme conditions.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County is creating a “Cyber Scholars” program with a $1 million grant from the Northrop Grumman Foundation.
Beginning in 2013, the program will award scholarships, internships and opportunities for advanced research to the 15-20 students selected annually to participate. The program will aim to address cyber security workforce shortages by drawing more women and minorities to the industry, UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski said Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin will host top performing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) high school students in two sessions today at its NexGen Cyber Innovation & Technology Center to promote cyber security careers and education, and to learn safe online practices through a series of interactive workshops.
By introducing Maryland high school students to cyber security at its Third Annual Cyber Security Awareness Day event, Lockheed Martin hopes to influence students to choose a career in cyber security and consider universities with a cyber security curriculum. This will help to fill the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected 65,700 new cyber security jobs between 2010 and 2020.
The purpose of this Notice is to announce the availability of a Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP) for NIH SBIR and STTR Phase II awardees. Now in its ninth year, this program is designed to help NIH SBIR and STTR Phase II awardees transition their developed products into the marketplace. Through a contract with Humanitas, Inc. of Silver Spring, MD with a sub-contract to Larta Institute of Los Angeles, CA, the CAP will provide early stage companies with individualized assistance toward accomplishing their commercialization goals.
The 2012-2013 CAP will begin in December 2012 and will conclude at the end of August 2013. With two distinctive tracks, the program offers customized assistance to meet the specific needs of both early stage and seasoned companies: Commercialization Training Track (CTT), and Accelerated Commercialization Track (ACT). Each is different in their objectives and outcomes.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including NIH, operates under a Continuing Resolution (CR) (H. J. Resolution 117) that was signed by President Obama as Public Law 112-175 on September 28, 2012. The CR continues government operations through March 27, 2013 at the FY 2012 level plus 0.6 percent.
Until FY 2013 appropriations are enacted, NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 90% of the previously committed level). This is consistent with our practice during the CRs of FY 2006 - 2012. Upward adjustments to awarded levels will be considered after our FY 2013 appropriations are enacted but NIH expects institutions to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period. All legislative mandates that were in effect in FY 2012 remain in effect under the CR, including the salary limitation set at Executive Level II of the Federal Pay Scale ($179,700), which was effective with grant awards with an initial Issue Date on or after December 23, 2011 (see NOT-OD-12-034 and NOT-OD-12-035).
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute intends to promote a new initiative by publishing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for research on trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC). The purpose of the Trans Agency Research Consortium for Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy (TACTIC) FOA is to support a single multi-component basic collaborative Research Program to conduct a hypothesis-driven study of trauma-induced coagulopathy. Through this initiative, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the Department of Defense (DoD) are in partnership to form a consortium with the Research Program to address TIC by linking clinical investigators involved with ongoing DoD funded trauma-related clinical trials with the Research Program scientists who will have the unique opportunity to utilize patient samples in their basic research in TIC.
One of the toughest hurdles for health IT start-ups is getting in front of customers. Doctors are reluctant to pay, and sales cycles at hospitals can take months. Entrepreneurs often inspired by a negative personal experience, and moved to fix the problem, find later that their product doesn’t fit the hospital’s “workflow,” or offers no incentive for doctors to adopt it.
The New York Digital Health Accelerator helps health IT entrepreneurs address those issues. Today, it announced its inaugural class of 8 start-ups, winnowed down from 250 applicants. They were selected not only by investors, but also by 22 New York-based hospitals and clinics, including Maimonides Medical Center, Continuum Health Partners, and Adirondack Health Institute. Those health care providers have also hand-picked the start-ups they want to work with to test their product.
There’s a story going on in biotech venture capital, and it’s about a slow and painful death. Four years after the start of the Great Recession, and after a decade of too much promising and too little delivering, the majority of biotech VCs are struggling to stay afloat. Firms are shutting their doors, forcing partners out in brutal political battles, or quietly fading away as they fail to raise new funds.
This ongoing theme resurfaced in the past week, when I wrote about the demise of Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners, the $750 million venture fund that has been betting on high tech, biotech, and cleantech companies for 30 years. This firm, like many others, waited and waited for a home run to save its portfolio, but it never happened. For OVP, Mountain View, CA-based Complete Genomics (NASDAQ:GNOM) was the one that just never came through in the clutch.
Maryland launched the InvestMaryland Challenge today. This is a national business competition that gives seed and early-stage companies a chance to pitch their business and win $300,000 in venture capital funding. Winners can get a $100,000 top prize in three categories: life sciences; IT (hardware and software); and general business. They'll also get access to resources like incubator space and legal services. Applications are due by December 13. Judging will occur in late February and the winners will be announced next March.
Only small(ish) companies are eligible -- ones with fewer than 25 employees and annual revenues of less than $1 million. The IT and life sciences categories are open only to Maryland-based companies; companies outside Maryland may compete in the general category but if they win they'll have to relocate their business to Maryland
Iverson Genetic Diagnostics has entered into a licensing agreement with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for a molecular diagnostics test, designed to help physicians to assess cardiovascular risk in men and women, and infertility risk in women.
Under the agreement, Iverson gained marketing rights for the product which determines the healthy cholesterol fraction, HDL, and its partner protein, scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI).
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) issued by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) invites applications to conduct functional analyses of identified genetic variations related to heart, lung, blood and sleep phenotypes, using amenable in vitro or animal model systems. Exploratory/Developmental Phased Innovation (R21/R33) grant applications should identify and justify the genetic variants that they propose to test for functionality, the phenotype(s) the variants are associated with, and the functional measures that will be used to validate them. This FOA provides support for two years (R21 phase) for research planning activities and feasibility studies, followed by possible transition of up to three years of expanded research support (R33 phase). The total project period for an application submitted in response to this FOA may not exceed five years. This FOA requires measurable R21 milestones.
GlaxoSmithKline committed to provide researchers with unmatched access to patient-level data from its clinical trials--including studies that failed. The move is among several steps the London-based drug giant announced today to promote open innovation and collaboration with external groups. Yet commentators are skeptical about whether fellow drugmakers will be as bold in opening their data vaults to outsiders.
While GSK is taking an unprecedented step to make its clinical trial data transparent, not everyone is likely to gain unfettered access to its clinical trials info. Glaxo is forming a panel to judge the scientific merit of requests for the anonymous patient data, which is far more detailed than any of the clinical trial information and results posted on the company's website.
With creative funding schemes picking up steam and nontraditional funders taking an interest in biotech, what can universities and start-ups expect in their right first-round financing structure? At the BIO Technology Transfer Symposium, a panel examined various funding sources as well as the factors that influence investment decisions and the ins and outs of early stage financing deals.
William Tucker, executive director, Innovation Alliances and Services, University of California Office of the President, moderated a discussion with:
Ron Lennox, partner with CHL Medical Partners; and
Dr. Heather M. Snyder, senior associate director with the Alzheimer’s Association.
MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, announced today it will present four abstracts at the Influenza Vaccines for the World (IVW) International Conference at the Palacio de Congresos de Valencia, Valencia, Spain, October 9-12, 2012. These abstracts advance the body of existing data and knowledge surrounding influenza vaccination, highlighting MedImmune's continued leadership in helping to improve patient health.
Angel investors funded 27,280 entrepreneurial ventures in the first half of this year, up nearly 4 percent from the number of businesses funded during the same time a year ago.
That's according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Angel investments in the first six months of 2012 totaled $9.2 billion, a 3 percent increase over the same period a year ago. The average deal size was $336,390.
Supported by a five-year $7.4 million National Science Foundation grant, experts at The Johns Hopkins University are partnering with teachers and administrators in Baltimore City Public Schools on a program to enhance teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and math in city elementary schools by making STEM a community affair.
The program, called STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools – SABES for short — not only will benefit more than 1,600 students in grades three through five in nine city elementary schools, but could also become a national model for science, technology, engineering and math education.
GlaxoSmithKline and the non-profit biotech group Aeras are to assess an experimental tuberculosis vaccine in "proof of concept" tests in Africa and India, marking a step forward in the hunt for new ways to prevent the killer disease.
The partners plan to launch a mid-stage Phase IIb clinical study in Kenya, South Africa and India next year, following successful initial tests with the GSK product, Aeras said on Wednesday.
MedImmune said Tuesday it has inked a deal with two nonprofit cancer institutes that will advance three of the Gaithersburg biotech's antibodies through the clinic.
Under the deal, the Cancer Research Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, both based in New York, will conduct clinical trials of the early- and mid-stage therapeutics, each of which is designed to harness the body’s immune system to target tumors. The trials will involve combinations of different immunotherapies.
University of Maryland's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is expanding its annual Cupid's Cup Business Competition to find the country's top student entrepreneurs. Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour, partnered with the Dingman Center eight years ago to launch Cupid's Cup and is now taking the competition to a national stage for the first time. Applicants will compete for a transformative prize package including $70,000 in cash prizes, coaching from a team of successful entrepreneurs, in kind services from leading edge companies and the prestigious Cupid's Cup. In an added twist, Plank will grant the 2013 grand prize winner exclusive access to a member of his professional network.
The National Capital Planning Commission has approved final details of the first phase of a $300 million intelligence campus being developed at the former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency headquarters in Bethesda though additional details and plans still need to be worked out there.
NCPC Executive Director Marcel Acosta signed off on final portions of the project’s first phase Sept. 28 including landscaping, site security and lighting for the multi-building project at 4600 Sangamore Road. The commission previously voted July 12 to approve the project on the condition that Acosta review the additional details.
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Gateway to Innovation, a partnership between the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer presents:
Innovation 2 Commercialization: Making Tech Transfer Count!
The full-day conference will provide attendees with the opportunity to:
When many people think of the National Capital region and the businesses that call it home, a handful of industries come to mind. Certainly the largest of which is government contracting.
Between the Pentagon and individual civilian agency headquarters, the Washington, D.C. region is home to a majority of the decision makers and influencers in the federal government. It’s for this reason that contractors with a wide range of specialties, from professional services and staffing, to homeland security and technology, call the area within and around the Capital Beltway home. In addition to these contracting companies are the financial services and banking companies, legal firms and other organizations that service that industry.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation’s biomedical research agency. The NIH’s extramural funding supports research at more than 3,000 institutions. A portion of this funding supports the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which play a critical role in supporting the agency’s mission to improve human health. The programs are uniquely positioned to convert basic research ideas into commercially viable products and services available to the general public. The NIH intramural program includes about 6,000 scientists working at the NIH. Their output of inventions has grown over the years, resulting in the largest biomedical patent and licensing portfolio among public sector institutions worldwide. The NIH has achieved great success in licensing inventions made by the scientists who work at the NIH and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with 25 FDA approved products and hundreds of others having reached the market. NIH scientists have collaborated with other institutions, both for-profit and non-profit, to leverage the scientific discoveries that ultimately benefit public health worldwide.
Healthcare is a hot-button issue in America right now -– partly because it’s election season and partly because our healthcare system faces some legitimately major problems. On this episode of The Valley Girl Show, we sit down with Dr. Robert Pearl, the executive director and CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, to discuss the role that technology will play in the future of healthcare. And he is optimistic about new developments.
Pearl also talks about Kaiser Permanente’s iPhone apps, which are designed to help patients manage their care. One allows you full access to your personal medical record, and another lets you schedule and modify or cancel appointments. It also can push messages or alerts if, for example, you have allergies and the pollen count is high.
Ask a committee of 16 academics, 3 bureaucrats, 2 Fortune 500 executives and 1 Venture Capitalist to provide the President of the United States with a report on improving drug development in the US and they call in a panel of experts consisting of 14 academics, 9 bureaucrats, 12 Fortune 500 execs, 2 venture capitalists and 2 lawyers resulting in: "Report to the President on Propelling Innovation in Drug Discovery , Development and Evaluation".
The recently released report is devoid of any whisper of the existence of entrepreneurs and start-ups. It suggests that more basic research funding, a more efficient drug approval process and longer terms of patent coverage will mysteriously result in more and better therapeutics reaching market.