Many of the region’s successful life science startups are built on technologies that were licensed from The National Institutes of Health (NIH), The National Cancer Institute (NCI), other government biomedical research institutions and Biohealth Capital Region (BHCR) research universities like Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland. 

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Philanthropies, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM), and The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute today announced an initiative to fundamentally advance and expand the science of precision medicine, in which diagnostic disease markers are defined with pinpoint accuracy to help researchers understand disease pathways and customize therapeutic approaches. The collaboration will combine the renowned clinical and medical expertise of Johns Hopkins with the unique stem cell technologies and research capabilities of the NYSCF Research Institute to accelerate Hopkins' pioneering Precision Medicine Initiatives.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act. With election day looming, 2020 is likely to be the most politically contentious year of our lifetime. The country is divided right down the middle on many fundamental issues. Rather than debate, the opposing sides often descend into personal attacks, even questioning one another’s patriotism. This isn’t the time you want issues you care about dragged into the public arena, but patent rights and the Bayh-Dole Act have been summoned into the gladiator pit. Happy birthday, indeed.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MaxCyte, the global cell-based therapies and life sciences company, announces today that, having completed dosing of the second cohort of patients, clinical investigators have initiated dosing in the third cohort of patients of MaxCyte's Phase I clinical trial with the next higher cell dose of MCY-M11. This lead, wholly-owned, non-viral mRNA-based cell therapy candidate from MaxCyte's CARMA platform is a mesothelin-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy being tested in individuals with relapsed/refractory ovarian cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma.

The Montgomery County Business Hall of Fame (MCBHOF) is excited to announce Dr. Robert Caret as the keynote speaker for its annual luncheon and induction ceremony on October 29.

Dr. Caret is the Chancellor of the University System of Maryland. He has held this position since 2015 where he established the priorities of access and affordability, college completion, academic and research excellence, and workforce development. Under his leadership, the USM has expanded partnerships with the business community and embraced a more entrepreneurial approach, positioning the system as vital economic and workforce engine for Maryland.

With its world-class institutions, talent and collaboration, now is the time for Maryland to take the next steps in becoming the nation’s premier science and tech-based innovation and entrepreneurial corridor.

Pocket-size ultrasound devices that cost 50 times less than the machines in hospitals (and connect to your phone). Virtual reality that speeds healing in rehab. Artificial intelligence that’s better than medical experts at spotting lung tumors. These are just some of the innovations now transforming medicine at a remarkable pace.

In March 2019, BioSpace wrote about how the BioForest Hotbed area was the fastest-growing life sciences market in the top 10 from 2014 to 2017. Although relatively small compared to the top areas such as California and Massachusetts, Washington state and Seattle are growing at faster than 17%. One of the life sciences’ heavy hitters in real estate development, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, is showing its increasing interest in the region.

Although touted as having potential to cure some of the most intractable of human illnesses, gene therapies also carry some eye-popping price tags that have threatened to limit their availability to wealthy countries. However, a new public-private partnership aims to make them available to people around the world, including in developing countries.

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prix Galien USA Committee last night honored excellence in the biopharmaceutical and medical industry for research, development and innovation at its 13th annual Prix Galien Awards Gala, held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In recognition of the development and discovery of products that improve the human condition, a committee of highly accomplished scientific leaders, inclusive of four Nobel Laureates, recognized winners in three categories: "Best Pharmaceutical Product," "Best Biotechnology Product," and "Best Medical Technology."

Image: “Best Pharmaceutical Product:” GlaxoSmithKline, SHINGRIX

BALTIMORE, Md., Oct. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CoapTech LLC announced today that the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the company a two-year, $1.2M R44 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant on August 29, 2019. This builds on a $225,000 Phase I SBIR R43 grant and a $200,000 Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) grant awarded to the company last year.  

The new $1.2M grant will support a 40-patient clinical trial at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) evaluating safety and cost-effectiveness characteristics of a novel medical procedure known as percutaneous ultrasound gastrostomy (PUG), which is enabled by CoapTech’s PUMA-G device.  

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Gene Technologies (AGT) announced today the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for AGT's lead HIV program, AGT103-T, which is potentially a single-dose, lentiviral vector-based gene therapy developed for the purpose of eliminating HIV from people infected with the disease. 

Image: https://www.prnewswire.com

The General Assembly of Maryland has enacted Senate Bill 137 (the "General Corporate Legislation"), which makes several changes to the Maryland General Corporation Law (the "MGCL") and the Maryland REIT Law (the "MRL"). The General Assembly has also enacted Senate Bill 136 to explicitly permit the use of distributed electronic networks or databases (sometimes referred to as "blockchain" technology) in corporate record keeping (the "Distributed Ledger Legislation"). Finally, the General Assembly enacted House Bill 1116 and the identical Senate Bill 911 regarding annual reporting on the composition of the boards of directors of certain Maryland corporations (the "Annual Report Legislation"). The new legislation was signed by Governor Hogan and became effective on October 1, 2019. Unless otherwise noted, all section references below are to the MGCL.

Why do startups fail?

Image: https://www.linkedin.com

SILVER SPRING, Md. and RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- United Therapeutics Corporation (Nasdaq: UTHR) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplement to the New Drug Application for Orenitram® (treprostinil) Extended-Release Tablets reflecting data from the FREEDOM-EV study in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).  

The FDA-approved labeling has now been updated to indicate that Orenitram delays disease progression when used in conjunction with an approved oral background PAH therapy. The primary efficacy endpoint of the FREEDOM-EV study was time to first clinical worsening (morbidity or mortality) event. The new label notes that treatment with Orenitram resulted in a significant increase in the time to first clinical worsening event compared with patients who received placebo, which was associated with a reduction in the risk of an event. The treatment effect on time to first clinical worsening due to disease progression was consistent across subgroups.

(Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline will sell two travel vaccines to Bavarian Nordic for up to 955 million euros ($1.1 billion), the British firm said on Monday, as it looks to bolster its push into the lucrative cancer drug market.

The sale of anti-rabies treatment Rabipur and Encepur, used for the prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, to the Denmark-based biotechnology firm includes an upfront payment of 301 million euros and milestone payments of up to 495 million euros.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) today announced that the company will host an analyst and investor day on November 21, 2019 in New York City. This event, which is designed for sellside research analysts and institutional investors, will begin at 8:00 AM EST and end at 2:00 PM EST.

Institutional and analyst attendees who choose to participate onsite must register, as space is limited. To register for onsite participation at the event or for more information, please contact Robert Burrows, IRO for Emergent BioSolutions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (240) 631-3280.

Rockville, MD – October 16, 2019 – MockV Solutions, Inc. (MockV or the Company), a company developing innovative products to analyze viral clearance during process development, announced today that it has signed a test and study agreement with REGENXBIO Inc. (REGENXBIO), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Thermo Fisher) and Texcell-North America, Inc. (Texcell NA) to evaluate MockV’s MVM-MVP Kit for predicting Minute Virus of Mice (MVM) clearance during adeno-associated virus (AAV) bioprocessing.

Gentian’s CEO Dr. Hilja Ibert, Ph.D., guests on BioTalk from the BioHealth Capital Region Investor Conference to talk about their presence in the US market, Biomarkers, and Innovate Diagnostic Efficiency.

Listen now on Google Podcasts http://bit.ly/2MwE0w8, Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/2P7e5Nw, and TuneIn http://bit.ly/2oZkv6x

Dr. Hilja Ibert has over 25 years’ experience from the international diagnostic industry, from which she also has extensive leadership experience. She is a hands-on CEO, driving development and commercialization of product solutions for the clinical diagnostics market.

Gentian is a research-driven company that Dr. Ibert knows to appreciate, as she has gained experience with the development and market introduction of innovative technology throughout her career. Gentian develops and manufactures immunoassays based on unique and proprietary technologies, which enables these products to run on a wide range of high-throughput clinical chemistry analyzers. This results in significant workflow advantages for the laboratories. Through Dr. Ibert’s leadership, the company innovates and focuses on diagnostic efficiency through development and production of accurate and high throughput immunoassays that save time and costs for the laboratories and which provide relevant information earlier to clinicians. By doing so, Gentian contributes to improved patient outcomes. Gentian’s current products and pipeline cover kidney, infectious, inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield's corporate investment and innovation organization, Healthworx, has partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based Halcyon incubator program to provide funding and support for healthcare entrepreneurs.

Through the partnership, Healthworx will allot up to $200,000 to support innovative healthcare ventures in the incubator. Additionally, a Healthworx team member will join the Halcyon selection committee, tasked with ensuring that at least one slot in each of the next four program cohorts will go to a healthcare entrepreneur or startup developing solutions to improve outcomes and reduce the cost of care.

Virginia Tech plans to launch a cancer research initiative to promote collaboration among engineers, veterinarians, biomedical researchers and other scientists.

“We are going to create a sense of intellectual community of common interest for people. That takes money, resources and creating things they are interested in,” said Michael Friedlander, Tech’s vice president of health sciences and technology. “We are going to make available instrumentation and facilities for cancer researchers to use from all over the campus, some of which will be here, some of which will be new things we haven’t gotten yet. And we’re going to survey people: What do you need that you don’t have at Virginia Tech for leading-edge research?”

Image: Michael Friedlander

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) recently conducted a survey called, “Women in Technology Leadership 2019”, which examined tech and healthcare company startup data and demographics. Respondents were from the U.S., UK, Canada and China.

SVB’s survey found that only 56% of responding startups have at least one woman in an executive position and only 40% have at least one woman on the board of directors. 28% of surveyed startups had at least one female founder. 

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Cerecor Announces $43 Million Deal with AYTU BioScience to Sell Pediatric Portfolio and Advance Towards NDA

It was announced today that Rockville, Maryland-based Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ: CERC) has entered into an asset purchase agreement with AYTU BioScience, Inc. (“AYTU”) to sell Cerecor’s Pediatric Portfolio in a deal valued in excess of $32 million.

Cerecor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of treatments for pediatric rare diseases. Earlier this year the company received Fast Track Designation for its lead product candidate, CERC-801 and expects to receive its first FDA approval within the next 18 months.

Visit https://lnkd.in/e8zm7df to read more.

A pair of biotechnology companies — Viela Bio and NextCure — launched initial public offerings this year, raising nearly $260 million in public funds between them.

Image: Courtesy of Catalyte 

We are hiring! Maryland Commerce is looking for a professional from the life sciences industry to serve as our Director of BioHealth and Life Sciences. Come be part of the team!

I am happy to announce that a manuscript detailing a AEX and VF spiking study performed with MedImmune (AstraZeneca) and Texcell has been published in Biotechnology Progress. Click here for a good read!

On September 18, 2019, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was named the Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the 2019 LMG Life Sciences Awards, besting four other law firm nominees for the second year in a row. LMG's annual awards program honors the top firms and legal professionals in the life sciences market. Awards are based on interviews and surveys completed by participants who are active in the life sciences market. This year's awards program was held in New York City at Essex House.

Thank you Nasdaq for shinning a light today on Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and the significant market potential of our phage therapy in meeting the rapidly expanding un-met need for a cure for patients with antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Thanks to the NEXT team at Shulman Rogers for your support!

With more than three months to go, 2019 is already turning out to be an inspirational year for women entrepreneurs working toward closing the gender gap in VC. As of the end of August, companies founded solely by women have garnered around $2.4 billion of VC dollars in the US in 2019, on pace to surpass last year's decade-high of $3 billion, according to the latest update from PitchBook's VC Female Founders Dashboard.

Image: https://pitchbook.com

JPMorgan Chase is working to pair its financial and philanthropic resources to create a more diverse, equal, and bias-free financial world. Part of those efforts is its program for gender equality, Women on the Move, which aims to expand women-run businesses, improve women’s financial health, and empower women’s career growth. At the 2019 Women on the Move Leadership Day, CEO Jamie Dimon spoke with Raquel Oden, the Northeast Division Director at JPMorgan Chase & Co to hear his thoughts on the company’s philanthropy, being an ally, and healthcare.

Image: PHOTO: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM / FLICKR / CREATIVE COMMONS 2.0  

CEO Jason Miller to step down in June 2020; Mark Weinberger, EY and Peter Scher, JPMorgan Chase to lead search for new CEO

Washington, D.C.—In almost three years since its creation, the Greater Washington Partnership has become a driving force in moving the region forward, having immediate impact around the issues and opportunities that differentiate the Capital Region as a leading innovative regional economy. Jason Miller has been the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership, and he will be stepping down as CEO in June 2020, to pursue opportunities working on pressing economic issues at the national level, building on his efforts driving economic growth and prosperity in a regional economy. As the Partnership looks forward, Mark Weinberger of EY and Peter Scher of JPMorgan Chase will lead the search for a new CEO to continue the advancement and impact of the organization.

Suburban Maryland has become one of the nation’s strongest markets for life sciences, according to JLL’s latest industry Outlook.

As home to the headquarters of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), suburban Maryland has always held a distinct advantage over core life sciences clusters. Innovation is thriving and investors, employers and real estate stakeholders have taken note and are collectively changing the market, cementing its role as a leader in the life sciences sector.

Image: https://www.bizjournals.com

Gentian’s subsidiary in the US, Gentian USA, Inc. collaborates with BioHealth Innovation (BHI) in order to expand Gentian’s presence in the USA.

BHI, with its established healthcare market and business expertise, addresses Gentian’s needs at this early market entry stage. BHI’s market analysis expertise will allow Gentian to gain valuable market insight to market both their existing products and their pipeline product developments to the US market. In addition, it will also support launches of newly developed, innovative products.

DSC Partners, an investment firm formed in 2017 by former First Potomac executives, has just acquired 28 office buildings in the D.C. suburbs.

The firm announced Wednesday it bought three Montgomery County office parks totaling 1.3M SF for $149M. The 28-building office portfolio consists of the MetroPark North campus in Rockville and the WestTech and Meadows business parks in Silver Spring. 

Image: Courtesy of DSC Partners The MetroPark North office property in Rockville