2019 was an eventful year in the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR), to say the least, and BioBuzz has been there to document it every step of the way.

Whether it was the retirement of the MedImmune brand, Viela Bio’s $150M IPO, the $1.2B acquisition of Paragon Bioservices, Kite Pharma’s new manufacturing site in Frederick County, Maryland, an HIV cure emerging in Maryland or our continued coverage of the region’s expanding cell and gene therapy cluster-it’s been a truly remarkable year within the BHCR.

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GERMANTOWN, Md., Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Precigen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of innovative gene and cellular therapies to improve the lives of patients, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation (ODD) to PRGN-3006, a first-in-class investigational therapy using Precigen's non-viral UltraCAR-T™ therapeutic platform for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (clinical trial identifier: NCT03927261). Precigen announced in Q3 2019 that it had completed enrollment for the first cohort of this clinical trial and expects an initial data readout in the second half of 2020.

Low-carb diet success story Sabrina Williams, above, who drastically reduced her weight from 257 pounds.

A new group called the Low-Carb Action Network (LCAN), a coalition of doctors, academics, and average Americans with personal success stories using low-carb diets, has launched to urge U.S. nutrition leaders to include a true low-carb diet as part of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).

LCAN members point to a large and rapidly growing body of strong scientific research showing carbohydrate restriction to be a safe and effective strategy to prevent and even reverse chronic, diet-related conditions such as pre-diabetes/type 2 diabetes, overweight/obesity, and high blood pressure along with a broad array of other cardiovascular risk factors.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MaxCyte, the global clinical-stage cell-based therapies and life sciences company, announced today that Shruti Abbato has joined the Company as Executive Vice President, Business Development for CARMA Cellular Therapies. Ms. Abbato will lead development of new partnerships for the Company's CARMA platform programmes. 

Significant strides have been made towards the management of pediatric cancers, yet we still come up short with delivering a cure for many of our littlest patients. Further, even when children achieve long-term survival, they can experience long-term adverse effects from the disease or treatment.

Johns Hopkins University will close its graduate programs in Rockville by the summer of 2020, dealing a blow to the county’s ambitions of expanding higher education opportunities.

The university plans to consolidate the Center for Biotechnology Education on Medical Center Drive with the program’s main campus in Baltimore, said Leslie Ford Weber, the director of campus, government and community affairs for Johns Hopkins in Montgomery County.

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As president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), Jay A. Perman, MD, has challenged the University to promote big ideas and be forward-looking. To celebrate his nearly 10-year tenure, however, a look backward was appropriate.

In that vein, nostalgia and sentiment filled the air Dec. 12 at the SMC Campus Center, where a crowd of about 400 packed the second-floor Elm Ballrooms to pay tribute to Perman, who will become the fifth chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) on Jan. 6.

Image: Dr. Perman greeted a line of well-wishers before and after the celebration on Dec. 12 at the SMC Campus Center. - https://www.umaryland.edu

Oxford, UK – 18 December 2019: Vaccitech Ltd announced today that its strategic collaboration with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Ludwig), Vaccitech Oncology Limited (VOLT), has entered into a clinical partnership with Cancer Research UK to develop VOLT’s VTP-600 immunotherapy as a treatment option for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Cancer Research UK and Vaccitech Oncology Limited (VOLT), today (Wednesday) announce a new partnership to bring a novel immunotherapeutic vaccine strategy to patients with lung cancer.

The vaccine treatment developed by VOLT, a strategic collaboration between Vaccitech Ltd and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is designed to stimulate the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. It will deliver cancer-associated antigens (MAGE A3 and NY-ESO-1) to antigen presenting cells called dendritic cells, causing the immune system to produce cytotoxic T cells, which target and kill cancerous cells expressing the antigens.

RoosterBio Inc., a leading supplier of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (hMSC) working cell banks and hMSC bioprocess systems, announces today an expansion of its facility in Frederick, Maryland for the second time in 2019. The addition of 5,000 square feet to its existing 15,500 footprint supports the company’s expansion efforts and provides infrastructure to meet a growing international demand for its standardized hMSC bioprocess tools. By strengthening its cell manufacturing solution portfolio and presence in the Asia Pacific and Europe, RoosterBio is giving more people around the world the ability to advance regenerative medicine cures.

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Do you want to work with cutting-edge technology in 3D Tissue Model space. Mimetas, the market leader in 3D platform technologies, is seeking a critical thinker to work in our Gaithersburg, MD location. This person will have opportunity to influence discovery in a variety of disease indications, including cancer, inflammation, and drug safety. See attached description for more details.

This VC investment graph sums up the purpose of Healthcare Pizza. 🍕

As you can see, investors are increasingly focusing on larger, later stage rounds.

At least among CB’s 2019 Top 150 digital health startups.

There’s reasons, including the fact that more mature companies were more likely to be placed on the list.

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Old age may have its downsides, but losing the ability to grow new brain cells isn’t one: healthy people in their seventies seem to produce just as many new neurons as teenagers.

The discovery overturns a decades-old theory about how our brains age and could provide clues as to how we can keep our minds sharper for longer.

In mammals, most brain cells are created at or soon after birth and are not renewed. Recently, it was discovered that the human hippocampus, associated with learning …

Image: We keep on growing neurons – even as we age - THOMAS DEERINCK, NCMIR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

A planned new, 10-story cancer center at the University of Maryland Medical Center will transform the appearance of the front of the decades-old hospital building on the west side of downtown Baltimore.

The cubic glass and steel structure will rise above what is now the hospital’s driveway and main entrance off Greene Street, covering the existing building’s brick, institutional look.

Image: University of Maryland Medical Center officials presented three designs Thursday for the new cancer center addition to the hospital that will remake its face fronting Greene Street in downtown Baltimore. (Meredith Cohn / Baltimore Sun)

2019 saw a new record set for a list price of a prescription therapy—$2.1 million for the gene therapy Zolgensma® launched by AxeVis, a Novartis Company—and resulting renewed concerns over the price of treatments and whether politicos will ever be able to address the issue as the nation’s presidential election campaign season heats up.

The recycled rhetoric questioning the role of the biopharmaceutical industry in the discovery and development of innovative medicines continues to rear its ugly head in the ongoing discussion about the high cost of health care and what to do about it. But, for patients with unmet medical needs, this continued skepticism is merely a distraction. 

Most patients understand that their hope for future cures relies on the work that biopharma does to translate basic science into deliverable treatments and medicines. That understanding is backed by facts. 

Xconomy New York —  Perceptive Advisors, an investment firm with a long track record of life science investing across all points of development, is now stepping up to pump money into companies at the earliest stages with a new $210 million venture capital fund.

The Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV) is led by Chris Garabedian (pictured above, center), a veteran biotech executive whose experience includes stops at Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), Celgene, and Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT). He’s currently the chairman and CEO of Xontogeny, a Boston-based life sciences accelerator.

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Ten individuals with ties to Johns Hopkins have been named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, an annual celebration of young entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders. Each year, experts in 20 fields narrow down more than 15,000 nominations to a final list of 600 honorees.

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SHANGHAI, Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR), a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and advanced technologies & applied materials industries, today opened an innovation and customer support center in Shanghai, China to support biopharma research and technology development in the region. Avantor now has nine innovation centers worldwide.

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Four experts in life sciences and digital health development, commercialization, and investment peered into their proverbial crystal balls to offer insights on “What’s Hot in Life Sciences: A Look at the 2019 Trends and What’s on the Horizon for 2020”—the title of a panel discussion held recently at JLABS@NYC in SoHo . . .

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31 Maryland biology colleges offer certificates, associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in biological engineering and technology, physiology and anatomical sciences, and zoology and animal biology and 9 other programs.

The best biology programs in Maryland are offered by Johns Hopkins University. This biology college offers an excellent quality programs - five stars for curriculum and five stars for teaching.

Pasadena-based real estate investment trust (REIT) Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has launched a first-of-its-kind consortium to catalyze advanced biological innovation and manufacturing.

As a founding member of this consortium of top-tier academic institutions, research hospitals and life science industry partners, Alexandria will have a seat on the board of directors alongside Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies and GE Healthcare Life Sciences, the company said in a statement.

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Elizabeth is the interim Managing Director of TEDCO’s MVF.  She brings more than 25 years of academic, government, and private sector experience in product development, technology commercialization and venture management experience to the team.  Prior to joining TEDCO, she served as President of Transition Health Ventures, a consulting firm specializing in serving the needs of the innovation community and the healthcare and life science startup companies within it.  Elizabeth also spent more than 8 years in academic venturing roles JHU and UMB.  Additionally, Elizabeth previously served as Managing Director of the MVF (2004-2006) in addition to progressively senior roles with the Fund between 2000-2004.  She started her career in San Diego in venture-backed medtech startups in product development roles after completing her Masters in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, and BSE from Duke University and Biomedical and Electrical Engineering.

Some of the nation’s top healthcare-focused venture capital firms are banding together to form an advisory council with the technology security certification provider HITRUST  to create best practices for data security for startups developing digital health technologies.

In the heart of Montgomery County, Maryland’s premier biotech district there is a 42,000 SF facility with 17,000 SF vacant lab/office suite located at 9900 Medical Center Drive. The newly delivered and available lab space was designed to foster collaboration and learning with an open layout, a welcoming courtyard and an inside common area that is shared with other local tenants. 

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Maryland Technology Development Corp. has tapped an interim leader for the Maryland Venture Fund, which was the subject of a damaging state audit report and subsequent reform legislation earlier this year.

Elizabeth Good Mazhari has been named the interim managing director of TEDCO’s Maryland Venture Fund or MVF. The appointment comes as TEDCO is finalizing new governing regulations that it hopes will meet legislators' expectations of how it should be distributing state funds to Maryland startups. New investments through the MVF have been halted since June, while TEDCO enacts legislative-directed reforms and works to fill executive positions left open by a slew of recent resignations. Former MVF Managing Director Andy Jones announced his departure from TEDCO in May.

Having an MRI scan can be an unpleasant experience. The procedure often involves a patient lying down inside a large tube for at least 30 minutes and being instructed to remain motionless as magnetic and radio waves create detailed pictures of their organs. Many find the machine's loud, clanging noises unnerving and are left feeling panicky and claustrophobic.

Image: Johns Hopkins doctoral student Puyang Wang - https://hub.jhu.edu

Merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the healthcare industry heightened last year, according to recent research data and this could feed into gains for M&A and healthcare-focused ETFs for traders sensing an opportunity.

“The U.S. healthcare market saw a 14.4 percent increase in mergers and acquisitions from 2017-2018, fueled by soaring domestic venture capital investment – an all-time high of $130.9 billion invested in U.S.-based startups in 2018 alone,” a press release by Sage Growth Partners said. “Compounding the pace and complexity of deal flow are sweeping industry trends ranging from managing and measuring health outcomes to reducing the overall cost of care.”

A key part of president Donald Trump’s strategy to cut drug prices was to attack global “freeloading” for pharmaceuticals, targeting countries pushing back against pharma companies trying to charge higher US-level prices for their products.

But in trade negotiations with Canada and Mexico, it looks like that the Trump administration has not followed through on the strong rhetoric set out in his drug pricing strategy published last year.

According to press reports Trump’s negotiating team have agreed to scrap provisions on exclusivity of biologics, allowing each country to decide when the patent protection period expires on biologics.

Nearly 400 biotech leaders from across the Biohealth Capital Region (BHCR) gathered recently in Bethesda, Maryland at the Bio Innovation Conference, hosted by Maryland Life Sciences (MDLS), a division of the Maryland Tech Council. The event focused on advancements and opportunities for Maryland cell and gene therapy companies and why Maryland is becoming the number one location of choice for growing biotech companies. However, it was the afternoon keynote featuring JLABS @Washintgon, DC’s Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD, PhD, that caused a buzz in the crowd. 

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Trump‘s choice to lead the Food and Drug Administration has ties to both Wall Street and drug makers

A conservative doctor-turned-pundit with deep ties to Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry is President Donald Trump‘s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr Scott Gottlieb, 44, would be tasked with Trump‘s goal of cutting red tape at the FDA, which regulates everything from pharmaceuticals to seafood to electronic cigarettes. 

Rockville, MD: December 10, 2019. Robovet Corporation, a Rockville, Maryland startup focused on building novel veterinary diagnostic imaging systems, today announced it has begun raising funds through an equity crowdfunding campaign on the Wefunder platform (www.Wefunder.com/robovet). Robovet’s novel MRI systems for veterinary diagnostic imaging, robotic surgery and image guided therapy are expected to dramatically reduce the costs of advanced diagnostic imaging and veterinary cancer treatment. The company, headed by veterinary radiologist MC Seward DVM, MS, MBA, utilizes novel magnetic systems initially developed within the Weinberg Medical Physics incubator. According to Dr. Seward, “When I learned about Robovet’s MRI and image-guided treatment technology, it was easy to see the potential applications to the broader veterinary market in advanced diagnostic imaging and innovative therapies for equine and small animal veterinary patients”. “Dr. Seward’s academic work in MRI-guided therapy and his entrepreneurial experience make him the ideal CEO for the company,`` stated Irving Weinberg, MD PhD, co-founder. About Robovet Corporation

Chuck Morton, Partner, Venable, LLP, joins BioTalk host Rich Bendis to discuss the local entrepreneurial and business ecosystem, regionalism, and the BioHealth Capital Region

Chuck Morton is co-chair of Venable's Corporate Group. Chuck is recognized for his abilities in guiding financing, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and other transactions involving middle-market companies. Chuck assists lenders, investors, and entrepreneurs as they create, build, and buy or sell businesses, primarily in the healthcare, technology, and consumer products industries. He regularly acts on behalf of private equity groups and banks. Chuck currently serves as the Secretary on the BioHealth Innovation Board of Directors.

 Listen now on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/2QwoEIl, Google Podcasts http://bit.ly/33sWjJc, and TuneIn http://bit.ly/2M60Wmx

The Germantown company said its new app can sense a person's glucose levels.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ: CERC), a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in development and commercialization of treatments for orphan and rare diseases, as well as neurology announced today it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Aevi Genomic Medicine (NASDAQ: GNMX) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $16.1 million at closing, plus contingent value rights, or CVRs, for up to an additional $6.5 million in subsequent milestone payments on clinical or regulatory successes, or both.  Additionally, the Company is exploring strategic alternatives for its neurological assets as well as its one commercialized product Millipred®.