Maryland is on pace to see its second-largest funding year ever.

VC investment dollars hit a seven-quarter high in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2020: A total of $36.5 billion was invested in U.S. tech and healthcare companies, according to data from the MoneyTree Report by PwC/CB Insights. That’s up 30% from the second quarter. The total number of deals rose to 1,461 investments in companies, up 1% over the prior quarter.

It’s the second straight quarter of growth, indicating that a slowdown toward the end of March as the pandemic set in didn’t become the norm.

“Things are still going gangbusters,” said Brad Phillips, a director in PwC’s Emerging Company Services practice. “It’s been a relief for a lot of people that were in the market and just didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Image: Whitebox's Baltimore team inside its Curtis Bay HQ. (Courtesy photo)

“5 Questions With…” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features 5 Questions Martha Schoonmaker, Executive Director, Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC).

Martha Schoonmaker is the first Executive Director for the PIC MC Foundation, the entity that develops, manages, and markets the Germantown campus on behalf of Montgomery College for company locations. PIC MC is an integrated academic, business, and research campus and is the only community college with a hospital, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, located as the anchor resident partner.

Mac Conwell hopes to raise an initial fund worth about $10 million for his new investment firm RareBreed Ventures.

Image: McKeever “Mac” Conwell, a local entrepreneur and investor, has launched his own venture fund called RareBreed Ventures. KAITLIN NEWMAN FOR BBJ

Recordings of Keynotes, Panels and the Fireside Chat Available Online

The 6^th Annual BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) Forum like many events in 2020, went virtual this year with over 1,200 online registrants and 59 speakers coming together. The Forum, which has been held at AstraZeneca (Formerly MedImmune) since 2014 in Gaithersburg, MD, brought together the BioHealth Industry with a full slate featuring leaders of industry, academia, and government. The common message throughout the entire agenda was how this region has continued to operate and innovate while working to help the world solve the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The 2020 Crab Trap Competition, typically held during the Forum, will take place at Noon on October 21^st. The Crab Trap focuses on companies in therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare services, e-health, mobile health, electronic medical records, health informatics, and BioHealth cyber security. This years’ finalists include BrainScope, CARRTECH, Creative Bio-Peptides, innara HEALTH, and KaloCyte.

The entire 6^th Annual BioHealth Capital Region is currently available by visiting https://eventmobi.com/biohealth2020.

NOTE: If you haven’t already registered, please enter your information for immediate access. Click on the “Agenda” line to browser all the videos now available.

This event is free for biotech leaders is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Children’s National Health System, Deloitte, JLABS @ Washington D.C., Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Department of Commerce, Quality Biologics, George Mason University, University System of Maryland and AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. Please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

 New Members Continue BHI’s Commitment and Mission in the BioHealth Capital Region

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, October 20, 2020 – The Board of Directors of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) unanimously approved the appointments of three new board members, Sally Allain, Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Joseph F. Sanchez, PhD,  Director, Science Engagement, R&D North America, AstraZeneca, and Robert Silverman, Chief Business Officer, Alloy Therapeutics, Inc. BHI’s leadership also thanked outgoing Board of Director member Tracey Vetterick, formally of AstraZeneca for her contributions to the organization and support of many years.

PALO ALTO — A big Southern California real estate and investment firm has gobbled up its latest in a string of Palo Alto office property purchases, a deal that extends a buying spree in the Silicon Valley tech hub that now tops $850 million.

Alexandria Real Estate, acting through an affiliate, has bought two Palo Alto office buildings on Hillview Avenue near Arastradero Road, acquiring a site that’s in the famed Stanford Research Park.

The deal suggests investors still seek to collect commercial properties in choice and prestigious locations despite the economic uncertainties that the coronavirus has triggered.

Image: https://www.mercurynews.com

The U.S. government is providing roughly $486 million to AstraZeneca to accelerate the Big Pharma company’s experimental Covid-19 therapy.

The funds will be used to advance AstraZeneca’s antibody combination, AZD7442, into two phase-III clinical trials. The last-stage studies, expected to begin later this month or early next month, will involve more than 6,000 study participants at sites in and outside the United States. (Phase-III clinical trials are typically the last hurdle a pharmaceutical company must successfully clear before seeking approval for a new drug candidate.)

Thank you for your interest in the 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum on Monday, October 19, 2020 that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are thrilled to welcome executive-level biohealth industry leaders from across the country and overseas. To make the best use of your time and enable you to network with our 1000+ registrants and learn from the 58+ industry speakers, please use the instructions below to join our virtual event platform, https://eventmobi.com/biohealth2020

She aims to have a big presence in the local business community.

Image: Paula Sorrell is the new associate vice president of innovation and economic development at George Mason University. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics can take its therapy for superbugs to human trials.

Image: Dr. Carl Merril, third from right, with his son Greg, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, and other members of the team. ADAPTIVE PHAGE THERAPEUTICS INC.

October 14, 2020 – Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced today at the virtual 2020 HLTH conference the awardees for the JLABS @ Washington, DC Children’s, Maternal Health, and Diversity in Innovation QuickFire Challenges, which respectively aimed to catalyze pediatric innovation, improve maternal health in the United States, and support diverse innovators. These challenges embody Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s commitment to catalyzing potential solutions to today’s greatest healthcare challenges.

At BioBuzz, we’re dedicated to bringing you interesting and important stories that emerge from the thriving life sciences ecosystem that is the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR). 

The heart of the BHCR biohealth cluster is Maryland, with its vast network of government research agencies, the strong university system, and a deep network of established, emerging, and startup life science companies across a wide range of fields, including cell and gene therapy, advanced biomanufacturing, phage therapy, medical devices and more traditional biotech and pharma organizations. That’s not even to mention the remarkable efforts of myriad Maryland vaccine companies to develop the first approved, safe, and efficacious SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Emmes today announced that it was selected as one of the best places to work in the greater Washington area. The Washington Post’s 2020 Top Workplaces list ranked private, public, nonprofit and government agencies based on the highest engagement ratings from their employees. The Washington Post partnered with employee research and consulting firm Energage, and the process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture.

The Post’s annual survey honored 200 organizations as Top Workplaces. Emmes was selected in the large company category, which included organizations with between 500 and 999 employees. More than 3,600 area companies were invited to have their employees take the survey.

If you’re located in New York City or the Silicon Valley, venture capital firms are abundant and well covered by the media — you can’t escape them. But entrepreneurs in the Baltimore-D.C. region don’t need to go so far to find a firm that could propel their startup to growth.

The local venture capital community is robust, with dozens of firms that invest in all sorts of industries, from healthcare to fintech to cybersecurity. And it’s part of the reason that in 2016, approximately $1.09 billion was invested in local high-tech startups by VC firms, placing the region in the top 10 funded clusters in the U.S.

What is MedTech Color?

MedTech Color is a non-profit organization focused on ensuring people of color enter, remain, and flourish in the medtech industry. There is immense untapped potential from people of color, and we’re committed to providing and promoting opportunities for them to make a meaningful contribution to the industry.

JOHN WHYTE: You're watching "Coronavirus in Context." I'm Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer at WebMD. Today I'm joined by Dr. Stephen Hahn. He's the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Hahn, thanks for joining me.

STEPHEN M HAHN: John, thank you. Really appreciate the opportunity, and it's great to be part of this webcast.

Image: Stephen M. Hahn M.D.

To meet the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed goals, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) today announced an agreement with AstraZeneca for late-stage development and large-scale manufacturing  of the company’s COVID-19 investigational product AZD7442, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, that may help treat or prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Not every research project succeeds. And not every company survives. However, the ones that align with the culture of winning and sign up and adopt the community charter are opting in for a much higher chance of disrupting their industry and changing the rules of the game.

So, you are probably thinking it’s not important, right?

But it is... At the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, we have the unique ability to witness effective project teams daily. With over 200 companies creating breakthroughs from nanomaterials to self-driving vehicles, we have a ready-made ‘team laboratory’ to understand what works and how to scale.

Image: Brett Malone, Ph.D., President & CEO Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich joins BioTalk to discuss his Career Path, the BioHealth Industry and plans to support the Industry in MoCo.

Listen now on Apple https://apple.co/37dYS5Z, Google https://bit.ly/2IC4eOp, Spotify https://spoti.fi/2IDpN11, TuneIn https://bit.ly/31cjHuZ, and YouTube (Audio) https://bit.ly/31bsiho.

BARDA Director of the DRIVe Catalyst Office, Justin Yang, Joins BioTalk to share how BARDA collaborates with the BioHealth Industry, partners with Incubators, and helps fund innovation.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3dqDyLH, Google https://bit.ly/3jZyeRU, Spotify https://spoti.fi/34YL9xg, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3k1uM9x.

Across the world in 2019, UNICEF reports that over 2.4 million infants died in their first month of life, the vast majority in the developing world. 

The situation in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly dire: an infant born in that region is 10 times more likely to die during its first month of life than a child born in a high-income country. Most of these deaths are preventable. 

It was statistics like these that inspired biomedical engineers Sona Shah and Teresa Cauvel to found Neopenda in 2015.

Neopenda, a Cisco social entrepreneurship prize winner, is a social enterprise that develops innovative technologies for health systems in underserved populations. 

Children’s National Hospital has received 2020 Digital Health Most Wired recognition by The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) as a certified level eight. The CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively health care organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and care in their communities. 

“Children’s National is honored to receive the Most Wired recognition for our inpatient and ambulatory venues,” said Matt MacVey, vice president and chief information officer at Children’s National. “We have made substantial investments in technology in support of our mission to provide a high-quality experience and optimal health outcomes for children regionally, nationally and internationally.”

ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 5, 2020– GlycoMimetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLYC) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the Company a Rare Pediatric Disease designation for rivipansel for the treatment of sickle cell disease in patients 18 years old and younger. This designation recognizes the significant needs in pediatric patients.

“The FDA’s designation recognizes the morbidity and mortality burdens of sickle cell disease as well as its significant impact during childhood with life-long implications. With this designation, the agency acknowledges the urgent need for improved treatment of children living with sickle cell disease,” stated Helen Thackray, Chief Medical Officer of GlycoMimetics.

In the early days of managing the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard, experts at the university and those at Esri, the company providing the mapping software for the real-time pandemic tracker, had a friendly rivalry.

"They would tell us, 'Oh, your COVID map is big, but not as big as our Pokémon Go map,' which was their most in demand," says Reina Murray, an application administrator at JHU's Sheridan Libraries.

By March, the volume of web traffic to the Hopkins map effectively shut down that conversation—the Hopkins dashboard now holds the record as Esri's highest-used service of all time, drawing hundreds of millions of feature requests every day. At a peak in March, the dashboard saw 4.56 billion feature requests.

Image: https://hub.jhu.edu/

When Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan visited Novavax recently, President and CEO Stanley C. Erck shared some welcome news for the governor publicly: Novavax had more than doubled its workforce so far this year, adding 116 people to the 100 that it employed at the start of 2020.

“The plan is to double that again, to add another 200 in the coming six months just in the U.S.,” Erck said, part of an expansion plan by Novavax to grow its workforce to 1,000 people worldwide. Novavax recently expanded into a third building at its Gaithersburg, MD, headquarters, and is also in talks for an additional 200,000 square feet of lab space locally.

Image: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (2d from left) chats with Gale Smith, PhD, Novavax Discovery and Preclinical Research and Chief Scientist, during a tour of the company’s Gaithersburg, MD, facilities. (Office of Governor Larry Hogan)

QIAGEN N.V. (Venlo, Netherlands) plans to launch a novel straightforward approach to viral RNA epidemiology that will significantly simplify and accelerate PCR analysis and remove key testing bottlenecks for SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses.

QIAGEN’s innovative QIAprep& Viral RNA UM Kit combines a liquid-based sample preparation step completed in only two minutes with real-time PCR detection in a streamlined workflow that can be automated with standard lab equipment for any throughput, any assay and any reaction need from single to multiplex testing. The kit, which uses the most common transport media such as Universal Transport Media (UTMTM) as the starting material, includes both sample extraction components and optimized PCR reagents for only one procedure.

Image: QIAprep& Viral RNA UM Kit (Photo courtesy of QIAGEN N.V.)

Catalio's portfolio includes many notable local biotech companies, including Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. and Thrive Earlier Detection Corp.

Image: George Petrocheilos (right) and R. Jacob Vogelstein are the managing partners of venture investment fund Catalio Capital Management LP. MARK DENNIS - https://www.bizjournals.com

GAITHERSBURG, MD -- October 6, 2020 – NexImmune, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a portfolio of unique non-genetically-engineered T cell immunotherapies, announced today that it has dosed the first patient in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial for NEXI-002. NEXI-002 is a patient-derived cellular product that contains populations of naturally-occurring CD8+ T cells directed against several multiple myeloma (MM)-specific antigen targets. It is the second clinical product NexImmune has generated with its AIM nanoparticle technology.

“While the primary objective in this trial with NEXI-002 is to demonstrate safety and tolerability, we also hope to see initial signs of immunological and clinical activity,” said Han Myint, MD, Chief Medical Officer at NexImmune. “The AIM technology gives us the unique ability to direct populations of natural T cells against a powerful combination of cell surface and endogenous anti-tumor targets specific to multiple myeloma. We believe this approach has potential to address primary tumor escape mechanisms, and provide deep and durable clinical responses.”

Maryland universities are home to lots of cyber researchers and technologists working on new ways to secure our increasingly technology-reliant society. Those higher education institutions are also home to graduate students looking for an entrepreneurial leap.

A new program is looking to connect the two, and form new startups in the process.

The Maryland New Venture Fellowship for Cybersecurity, created by University of Maryland, Baltimore County incubator bwtech@UMBC and the University System of Maryland, is launching this fall to support 10 early-stage teams. The program was recently awarded $594,000 in federal funds from the Economic Development Administration of the United States Department of Commerce. With matching funds from Baltimore County, the total funding reaches about $1.3 million.

Image: Welcome to bwtech@UMBC. - Courtesy Photo

Our allergy assets remain an underpinning of Immunomic Therapeutics’ success, and have enabled our pivot to focus on oncology.

In addition to our canine atopic dermatitis vaccine concept,  our vaccines using ITI’s lysosomal targeting technology have already been tested in several clinical studies in both allergy and oncology.

IMN’s Virtual Investors’ Conference on BioHealth, taking place November 18, will provide a platform to understand the intersection of securitization across the biotech and healthcare sector, helping educate investors, borrowers and industry participants on the hottest new asset class in equity capital markets. This one-day virtual conference will focus on both on European and U.S. opportunities and challenges, as regulatory challenges will be forefront on both sides of the globe. 

BioHealth issuance in 2020 has now surpassed $60 billion globally, spurring this asset class to become the second most popular equity capital markets sector, with momentum driven by huge secondary moves and companies benefitting from a greater focus on healthcare investing that Covid-19 has generated.  

Join this must-attend gathering to engage with hedge funds, institutional investors, and more, to discover exciting new investment opportunities as this sector expands to comply with policy, market demand and changing consumer needs.

All the fundamentals are aligning for the life sciences industry, as Covid-19 accelerates already growing demand for real estate in the sector.

Rents are rising for lab space, vacancies are plunging and research and development, and employment and new development are expanding further, thanks to strong venture capital investment. 

In the top life sciences markets there’s currently about 13.9 million square feet of space under construction, but active tenant demand is outpacing that, running at about 14.7 million square feet, according to a new report from CBRE. Lab-space vacancy is historically low at less than 8% percent in most top life sciences markets, pushing rents higher.