Are you seeking funding or about to launch a fundraising campaign? Sign up today to attend Life Science Nation’s Fundraising Bootcamp.  Pre-registration is required but there is no charge to attend (lunch for RESI attendees only).  Your choice of two locations:

Monday, 8/27 - Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc.

4539 Metropolitan Court, Frederick, MD 21704

(register: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

OR

Tuesday, 8/28 at bwtech@UMBC – Tech South

1450 South Rolling Road

Halethorpe, MD 21227

(register:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

BOTH WORKSHOPS HAVE THE SAME CONTENT – Register for the one that is most convenient for you. Workshop: Fundraising Boot Camp for Life Science Startups – 10-11:30 a.m.

Presenter: Dennis Ford, Founder and CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of the RESI Conference Series; Author of The Life Science Executive's Fundraising Manifesto

• About Life Science Nation (LSN)
• Raising Capital: The 3 Most Important Questions
• The Changing Investor Landscape
• Debunking the Top 10 Old Myths in Fundraising
• Planning & Infrastructure for an Outbound Fundraising Campaign
• Building Your Brand Through Consistent Messaging
• Key Components of Fundraising Marketing Collateral

Networking:  11:30am - 12pm

Interactive Lunch: Upcoming RESI Prep (RESI registrants only) 12-2 p.m.

When:Thursday, December 13, 20187:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. EST

Where:VisArts Rockville155 Gibbs StreetRockville, MD  20850United States

The HERstory Gala is the premier event for our chapter and supporters. This elegant event attracts men and women from industry, government, non-profits, and academia from across the Capital Region Metro Area and provides unique opportunities to meet with some of the region’s most successful women. This event is focused on highlighting women trailblazers in the life sciences who have made a significant impact in the region during the year. Ticket price includes open bar, cocktail reception, seated 3-course dinner, and access to biotech industry leaders in the Capital Region.

Only 7 percent of patients live five years after diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, the lowest rate for any cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Elliot K. Fishman, MD, a researcher and radiologist at Johns Hopkins, is on the forefront of trying to change this statistic, and he's using artificial intelligence to do it.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first-ever generic version of EpiPen Thursday — a move the agency says could help lower costs for the drug, which can carry a price tag of more than $600.

Does your small business need assistance in commercializing its HHS SBIR/STTR-funded technology? Was that technology developed with a Phase II HHS SBIR/STTR award that was active at any time between August 2013 and August 2018? (Your company does not need to have a currently active award as any HHS Phase II SBIR/STTR award active in the last 5 years would qualify.)

If your answers to both these questions is “Yes,” then your company should consider applying to the NIH Commercialization Accelerator Program (CAP).

Companies are invited to apply online exit disclaimer icon . Due to popular demand, the deadline for submissions has now been extended to August 23, 2018 11:59pm (PDT). Selected companies will be notified in early September 2018.

Maryland biotechnology firms Profectus BioSciences Inc. and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. will receive up to $36 million to develop and manufacture a new vaccine against a type of virus that causes hemorrhagic fever.

This networking event is for BioTech Professionals in the BioHealth Capital Region. We encourage all professionals, post-docs and scientist to attend - it is a great opportunity to get to know others who are working in science in our region.

This free industry wide event will include music, games, hors d'oeuvres, drinks.

Listen to, network with the hottest startup CXOs in the biohealth capital region at our first in a series of four annual meetups around the Capital Beltway on “OMICS, Digital Health and Precision Medicine Data Science” Panel discussion with refreshments, drinks and networking

Meetup #1: Digital OMICS Innovators Meetup. September 20, 2018, Thursday; 5:00-8:00PM

Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus 9605 Medical Center Dr, Rm 121, Rockville, MD 20850

A Harvard scientist thinks he's reached a new milestone: a genetic test that helps identify people who are at high risk of having a heart attack. Can he convince doctors to use it?

PROGRAMS AND INCENTIVES TO SPUR BUSINESS GROWTH

We help you navigate available programs, grants and incentives to identify immediate opportunities and plan for long-term success. Check out the very successful MOVE program, small business programs and incentives geared to specific industries.

GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLYC), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel small-molecule drug candidates to treat rare diseases, announced today that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) has issued Patent No. 6366150, for uproleselan (GMI-1271). The newly issued patent covers uproleselan’s composition of matter as well as pharmaceutical formulations, and expires in December 2032.

Popper and Co., a strategy consulting and transaction advisory firm serving the needs of the medical technology and life sciences industries, announced today that Co-Founder and President Caroline Popper, M.D., will speak at the 10th Annual Next Generation Dx Summit on August 22 at 5 pm ET at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, DC.

Calling all pediatric cardiovascular devices $100K competition now accepting proposals

We are now accepting proposals for our annual pediatric medical device pitch competition! New this year, the competition is focused on pediatric cardiovascular devices – a significant unmet need for children. The competition will be held on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018 in Philadelphia, Penn. at our 6th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium. The deadline to apply is Monday, Sept. 10. For additional competition details and to apply, click here.

The Emmes Corporation today announced that it was selected as one of the best places to work in the greater Washington area. The Washington Post’s 2017 Top Workplaces list ranked private, public, nonprofit and government agencies based on the highest engagement ratings from their employees. The Washington Post used Workplace Dynamics to conduct the survey, with 3,000 area companies invited to participate and 150 organizations selected as Top Workplaces. Emmes was ranked 15th out of 25 in the large company category and was one of only two biotechnology organizations to make the list.

RegenxBio Inc. (NASDAQ:RGNX) raised $175.5 million through the sale of 2.7 million shares at $65 in a follow-on underwritten by Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Raymond James.

Venture investor Krishna Yeshwant uses a healthy amount of skepticism when vetting potential companies to invest in. His favorite time to invest is when one of his partners at the fund is excited about a particular company, even if nobody else is.

To better understand one of the most heated U.S. policy debates, we created a tournament to judge which of these nations has the best health system: Canada, Britain, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, Australia and the U.S.

In the first such clinical trial in the United States, physician-scientists with the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) are investigating the use of MRI-guided focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier. The trial will be conducted with patients undergoing brain cancer surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).

Recently, ClearMask received $25,000 in grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support ClearMask's commercialization efforts. The funding is part of the NSF's National Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program that helps scientists and engineers move their technologies toward commercialization.

In last week’s Amplified column, I discussed how the traditional wisdom that small business pursues disruptive innovation and big business pursues sustaining innovation may no longer hold. This is especially likely in industries consisting of only a few large players that both have the resources to engage in disruptive innovation themselves and to raise the costs of entry to would-be competitors.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire PaxVax, a company focused on specialty vaccines that protect against existing and emerging infectious diseases, for an all-cash consideration of $270 million. PaxVax is majority owned by an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.

Maryland’s health tech startup ecosystem is at it again. Silver Spring-based startup which is named as Aziyo Biologics Inc. has raised an amount of $10 million from seven leading investors in a funding round which has been disclosed yesterday night in SEC filings.

After a week of persistent rain throughout Maryland, it was blue skies and a perfect 85-degree summer afternoon that marked an important day for Paragon Bioservices and their 250+ employees.  Dozens of those employees stepped off a charter bus from Baltimore to see the brand new 151,000 sq/ft GMP biomanufacturing facility near BWI for the first time. The wide-open parking lots and 200 yards between the nearest building presented a much different landscape than they were used to at their current UM BioPark location in the city.  An afternoon picnic and site tour was organized as a celebration for their employees, who got to enjoy some delicious ole’ fashioned BBQ, music and games outside before a short welcome ceremony.

We want to offer you the best possible experience when using the OrganoPlate® for your experiments. This page contains training videos and protocols to get you started. For optimal user experience, we recommend you to follow these 5 steps before your first experiment:

Paragon Bioservices, the leading private equity-backed biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with proven expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines, announces today two key leadership promotions. Deborah Wild has been promoted from Vice President, Quality, Validation and Regulatory Affairs to Senior Vice President, Quality, Validation and Regulatory Affairs, and Ruby Hofmann has been promoted from Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Development to Senior Vice President, Human Resources, and Organizational Development.

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE-American: SENS), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of a long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today announced that the Eversense® CGM System is now available at trained clinics across the U.S. and physicians have begun sensor placements with patients. Concurrently, the company reported that its first commercial payer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Horizon Healthcare of New Jersey, has added coverage of the Eversense System to its Medical Policy.

Johns Hopkins University has been awarded up to $30 million to lead a consortium of three Mid-Atlantic universities that will work together on research projects with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Venture Capital - Generating Opportunity in Montgomery County

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative, targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, announced that it has distributed to shareholders a mid-year update letter reviewing the company's recent progress and clinical plans for the remainder of 2018 and 2019.

Meet RESI’s Network of Global Investors and Channel Partners

This fall, the Redefining Early Stage Investments Conference (RESI) will expand to include tech hubs and companies from the First Coast: DC, MD, PA, NJ, NY, RI, CT, and MA. RESI invites earliest stage companies from the discovery stage through venture stage: companies seeking grants, seed, angel, series A, and series B funding.

As a client/partner of BioHealth Innovation and/or an early stage biohealth start-up in the BioHealth Capital Region, you can attend the RESI Boston September Conference at a reduced rate - $300 each ticket for the first 5 signups; each ticket valued at $1,295. 

RESI is a partnering vehicle for you to connect with global investors and strategic partners. You'll have an opportunity to showcase your technology and assets in a poster board format with our table in the exhibit hall. You can participate in partnering and networking all day, and explore the exhibit hall, investor panels and entrepreneur workshops.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the Discount Code and Register Now  

$300 for Tech Hub Members Includes:

• 1 Tech Hub Member (BioHealth Innovation Client / Partner) Ticket
• Present Your Technology in a Poster Board Format at BHI Table
• Company Datasheet Featured on Website and Newsletter
• All Day Access to Partnering, Networking, Panels and Workshops
• Continental Breakfast, Lunch, and Cocktail Reception
• All Registered Attendees Eligible to Apply to First Coast Innovation Challenge
  • Top 5 companies of the First Coast tech hub members will present their technology as a 10-minute pitch to a panel of early-stage investors.
  • Top 5 will be featured in Marketing Channels
  • It's FREE to Apply (Application Deadline:  8/17/18)

Landos Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing improved treatments for autoimmune diseases, announced today that the first healthy subjects have been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical study of BT-11, a first-in-class, orally-administered, molecule targeting the LANCL2 pathway. The Phase 1 study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single and multiple ascending dose study intended to enroll up to 70 healthy volunteers to evaluate the safety and tolerability of BT-11. BT-11 is in development for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD).

As a BARDA DRIVe Accelerator, the Center for Biotechnology is pleased to announce that the simplified funding application process, called EZ BAA, is now open. Medical product developers, research teams, and companies offering disruptive solutions to health security threats are invited to submit abstracts using this simplified EZ BAA process.

Applications accepted through this streamlined process must offer transformative innovation, products and technologies to protect Americans from health security threats. This application process is a business friendly simple abstract.

In-scope priority areas include products and solutions to reduce illness and death from sepsis as part of DRIVe’s Solving Sepsis initiative; technologies and processes to identify infections and exposures to biological and other health threats, as outlined in the Early Notification to Act, Control, and Treat (ENACT) initiative; and tools and techniques to mitigate the damages and loss of life associated with catastrophic events.

Thursday, Septmember 27, 20184:00-7:00 PM

Enjoy an evening with food, fun and lively conversation at Biotech and Beer. Meet old friends and new colleagues in the life science community. Complimentary admission for any bioscience company employees, and university students and researchers with advanced registration. All others may purchase tickets.

Amazon has been keeping 20 cities guessing about its plans for a $5 billion second headquarters, with sites in Northern Virginia, Washington, and Montgomery County in the mix.

Who are the leading angel investors startup entrepreneurs should be pitching right now? How do you connect with them?

Effective fundraising for startups isn’t about how many people and firms you can blast your opportunity out to. It’s about getting in front of the right investors, with a strong pitch deck. A recent DocSend survey shows successfully funded startups contacted an average of just 58 investors, made 40 meetings, and took just 12.5 weeks to close their funding round.