PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSE MKT: PIP) and Altimmune, Inc., a privately-held immunotherapeutics company targeting infectious diseases, announced today the signing of a definitive agreement for the merger of PharmAthene and Altimmune in an all-stock transaction. Altimmune's current investors include Novartis Venture Fund, HealthCap, Truffle Capital and Redmont Capital. The combined company will be a fully-integrated and diversified immunotherapeutics company with four clinical stage and one preclinical stage programs. The proposed transaction does not affect PharmAthene's previously announced special one-time cash dividend of $2.91 per share of common stock.

One new member of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is from Baltimore, and part of his job will involve tech policy.

Reed Cordish, a real estate (not software) developer who is a principal with the Cordish Companies, will serve as an assistant to the president on “intragovernmental and technology initiatives,” the Trump transition team announced.

The Maryland Cybersecurity Awards Celebration is designed to honor the companies, organizations, and individuals that have protected businesses and government agencies with their cutting-edge technologies; thwarted cyber criminals with their outstanding cybersecurity services; demonstrated exemplary knowledge, expertise, leadership and innovative thinking; or made a significant contribution to Maryland’s cybersecurity ecosystem. Help us celebrate the best and brightest of the Maryland cyberscurity community by nominating yourself or another individual, company, or organization for one of the prestigious Maryland Cybersecurity Awards. The nomination process is quick and easy, and will only take a few moments. Multiple nominations are encouraged.

Nomination Deadline: January 31st.

Last week’s 35th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco was packed with thousands of healthcare investors, analysts, large multinational healthcare companies, startups, and everything in between.

In a week that saw countless broken umbrellas and end to the Bay Area’s prolonged drought, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco featured what it always does: set the fertile ground for healthcare and life sciences dealmaking and networking. From the buzz around Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance to talk about the Cancer Moonshot to Illumina’s partnership with IBM Watson Health, there were plenty of headlines generated at the main conference and the satellite events that accompany it. Here were the biggest stories that emerged from them:

A multicenter study led by investigators at Johns Hopkins University just reported on a full genomic analysis of tumor samples from a small number of people who died of pancreatic cancer. The new data suggests that epigenetic changes control how DNA operates to confer survival advantages on subsets of pancreatic cancer cells. Those advantages, the researchers say, let such cancer cells thrive in organs like the liver and lungs, which receive a sugar-rich blood supply.

Tuesday, January 31 at 2:00 PM ET

You’ve got an amazing idea for a new medical product, it’ll save lives, speed recovery, be less expensive, more accurate and durable than the product already available on the market – or it may fill a gap where there is no product available. You have an amazing team, strong IP, an understanding of the regulatory and reimbursement coverage data requirements – all you need to get to market is MORE MONEY! In this Small Biz Hangout one of NHLBI’s funded companies will demonstrate how to deliver a strong pitch to investors and our Investor-in-Residence will comment on the most effective and impactful aspects of the delivery.

In a dream Brian Hanley told me about, he’s riding a bus when he meets a man in dark leather clothing. Next thing he knows, he is splayed across a tilted metal bed, being electrocuted.

A half-dozen student-run startups at Johns Hopkins are getting some funding and help with developing their ideas.

Through the O’Connor Fund, the undergraduate student teams get a $5,000 grant plus access to mentors and other resources. There’s also an opportunity to receive another $5,000 if the teams reach specific business milestones. The program is run by Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures.

The Accelerator Director serves as a principal member of the IPHA evaluation, selection and mentoring team responsible for the identification and development of new personalized health companies with the potential to produce disruptive technology solutions and achieve a high rate of growth.

The Accelerator Director is responsible for sourcing and conducting due diligence on IPHA applicants, evaluating and supporting new company formation strategies, mentoring entrepreneurs in personalized health product development, facilitating IPHA member network relationship development, maintaining board-level relationships and mentoring entrepreneurs in securing equity based capital for growth.

Additionally, the Director will support the growth and management of the IPHA mentor network whose participants provide guidance to portfolio companies. The Director will also work with members of the Inova Strategic Investment team to support the diligence process prior to subsequent investment transactions.

Geisinger Health System CEO Dr. David Feinberg used the StartUp Health Festival to launch its population health initiative, Springboard Health during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this week.

Massachusetts stole a second straight victory in Bloomberg’s ranking of the most innovative U.S. states, a testament to how much the economy’s wheels are greased by investment in higher education and research.

Venture capitalists invested $300 million in Maryland companies in 2016, a 70 percent drop from $1 billion the year before.

In the Obama administration’s final days, the National Cancer Institute is establishing an ambitious new program designed to allow scientists to more quickly access new drugs and compounds for novel research.

One of the last achievements of Vice President Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot initiative before he leaves office, the program was unveiled Wednesday and will begin as an agreement between the institute and six drug companies.

The search is on for the Best University Startups of 2017. We are calling all universities and their startups to apply and be considered to present live at the next University Startups Conference and Demo Day on April 18-20, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

The National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) will hold its second University Startups Demo Day (USDD) at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on April 18-20, 2017.

The DoD SBIR 17.1 & STTR 17.A Broad Agency Announcements are Now Open for Proposal Submission on January 10, 2017

You may now submit your Phase I and Direct to Phase II proposals for the open SBIR 17.1 and STTR 17.A Broad Agency Announcements (BAA) through the DOD SBIR/STTR proposal submission website at https://sbir.defensebusiness.org. All proposals for this Announcement must be received by 6:00 am. ET on Wednesday, February 8, 2017.

Prickly pear trees and the brown seaweed, commonly known as Peacocks tail, are a common sight in the Mediterranean. [Stephanie Ghio] It would seem that Juan Ponce de Leon’s trip to the New World in search of the fountain of youth may have been even more in vain, given that it may have been right in his “backyard.” Evidence from a new study by investigators at the University of Malta and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS/University of Bordeaux) shows that chemicals in ubiquitous Mediterranean plants could hold the key to delaying age-related diseases. 

New East Baltimore Partnership ("FC-NEBP") and Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Inc. ("Toshiba Medical") announced today that they have executed a lease to construct a medical research center at 1812 Ashland Avenue, the newest building in the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins.  When it opens, the Toshiba Medical research center will showcase next-generation technology that will offer a unique opportunity at the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore Medical Campus to collaborate with researchers seeking the most advanced imaging capacity in the world.

Funding and Research Opportunities

The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

Notices:

• NIH & AHRQ Update Font Guidelines for Applications to Due Dates On or After 
• January 25, 2017 
• (NOT-OD-17-030) National Institutes of Health
• Technical Assistance Videocast for RFA RM-16-019 "NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory - Demonstration Projects for Pragmatic Clinical Trials (UG3/UH3)"
• (NOT-RM-17-005)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives
• Notice of Availability of Frequently Asked Questions and a Recording of the Pre-application Webinar on the NIH Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) Program Website for RFA-RM-16-024, RFA-RM-16-025, and RFA-RM-16-026
• (NOT-RM-17-006)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives

Requests for Applications:

• National Centers for Cryoelectron Microscopy (U24)
• (RFA-RM-17-002)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives
• Application Receipt Date(s): June 30, 2017, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. All types of non-AIDS applications allowed for this funding opportunity announcement are due on this date.

Program Announcements:

• Research on the Health of Women of Underrepresented, Understudied and Underreported (U3) Populations An ORWH FY17 Administrative Supplement 
• (Admin Supp)
• (PA-17-101) 
• Office of Research on Women's Health
• National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
• National Eye Institute
• National Human Genome Research Institute
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

The Pentagon’s research and development division, DARPA—the creative force behind the internet and GPS—retooled itself three years ago to create a new office dedicated to unraveling biology’s engineering secrets. The new Biological Technologies Office (BTO) has a mission to “harness the power of biological systems” and design new defense technology. Over the past year, with a budget of about $296 million, it has been exploring challenges including memory improvement, human–machine symbiosis and speeding up disease detection and response.

Ask anyone to identify Baltimore’s big anchors, and Under Armour and Johns Hopkins will likely appear in the same sentence.

Now the two are teaming up — brought together by tech.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, New York State and the New York Genome Center today announced a collaboration to launch a new JLABS in New York City. Called JLABS @ NYC, the 30,000-square foot facility will be located at the New York Genome Center (NYGC) in SoHo and will open in 2018. The project is receiving $17 million in New York State funding. The site will be open to biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health companies. A QuickFire Challenge seeking companies working in these areas, particularly startups working on cross-sector solutions to prevent, intercept or cure diseases, will be launched by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, with the winner(s) eligible for one year of residency at JLABS @ NYC.

IBM Watson Health and Illumina have officially joined forces, announcing a new partnership on Monday as the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference kicks off.

Watson Health is a serial collaborator, but it chose a pivotal agreement to spotlight at JPM. By integrating with Illumina’s platform, the two companies can create an end-to-end tumor sequencing workflow that could increase accessibility and scalability in the field. It could also address a major problem, said Watson Health Vice President Steve Harvey; a lack of standardization.

Below is 450+ pages of our most popular research reports from last year. As always, if you find these reports helpful, share with friends. If you think they're terrible, please send to your enemies.

Under Armour Inc. CEO Kevin Plank's keynote speech Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show stressed the importance of product innovation and provided another clear sign that this is not your mom and pop’s CES anymore.

From a brand new take on the electric breast pump to a discreet way to check sobriety during a night on the town, trust us, there's a lot of neat stuff on the horizon.

Dickson Data is back at it. On Thursday it released a new infographic [below] showing which drug patents are set to expire in 2017.

It follows the template of its popular 2016 infographic, which highlighted several major biopharma threats and trends. Times were tough for AstraZeneca, which had $7.4 billion in sales under threat as Crestor and Seroquel XR lose patent exclusivity.

Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), the genomics-driven, health intelligence company, today announced Cynthia Collins as the new Chief Executive Officer effective January 9, 2017. Collins, who has a successful track record and extensive leadership experience in the life sciences sector, will lead HLI and be responsible for all functions of the company including commercialization of HLI key products and strategic operations. She will also join the Board of Directors.

Venter, who is a co-founder, will relinquish the CEO role but will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of the HLI Board of Directors and will remain in a daily role leading the scientific strategy and direction of HLI.

Vtesse, Inc., a company committed to developing medicines to benefit patients with ultra rare, life-threatening diseases, announced today the appointment of Jason Meyenburg as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Meyenburg joins the company from Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, The Americas.

“As we near completion of enrollment in our pivotal Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of our lead drug candidate, VTS-270, our primary goal is to advance regulatory submissions. Assuming we receive favorable responses from U.S. and European regulatory agencies, our next goal will be to rapidly provide access to VTS-270 for the children suffering from NPC and its debilitating symptoms,” said Ben Machielse, Drs., President and Chief Executive Officer of Vtesse, Inc. “As someone with deep experience supporting the roll out of rare disease medicines, Jason has the know-how, passion and dedication required to help us to quickly make VTS-270 available for patients in need, pending regulatory approvals.”

MaxCyte®, Inc., a developer and supplier of cell engineering products and technologies to biopharmaceutical firms engaged in cell therapy, drug discovery and development, biomanufacturing, gene editing and immuno-oncology, announces data to be presented at the Keystone Symposia on Precision Genome Engineering summarizing in vitro and long-term preclinical toxicity and engraftment studies following targeted gene correction aimed at reversing mutations to wild-type sequence at clinically relevant levels in CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) obtained from individuals with X-CGD. The oral and poster presentations will highlight use of MaxCyte’s proprietary, cGMP-compliant delivery platform in development of ex vivo gene-corrected cell therapies as a potential treatment for monogenic diseases. The Symposia is taking place January 8 to 12, 2017 in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Imagine that you found a drug at a government lab that others passed over which promises to cure, not just treat, certain blood cancers. You entered into a cooperative R&D agreement where your funding doubled the lab’s budget in a critical research area while they leverage the expertise of your company. You’re a small American company taking on the big boys, with a state of the art facility hoping to be first to market with a revolutionary therapy.

Blood cancer treatments may one day include special dietary restrictions: researchers have found that an essential amino acid plays a crucial role in the creation of blood stem cells—a discovery the scientists say could lead to a potential alternative to chemotherapy and radiation.

Formed in 1997, the Greater Rockville Partnership, now Rockville Economic Development, Inc. has evolved and grown to be an organization that has helped thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs in the City of Rockville. And we are so excited to hit 20 years of support and growth that we are going celebrate ALL YEAR LONG!

We have events and promotions planned throughout the year including our Business Appreciation Week, the REDI Commercial Broker Breakfast , the REDI Resource Meet up (R2M), as well as special 20th Anniversary events ---you won't want to miss any of them.

We are also offering 20th Anniversary sponsorship opportunities for companies looking for exposure by supporting our events throughout the year. If interested, you can contact Michael Steifvater via email or 301.315.8096.

Boston Scientific has made a name for itself with devices that are implanted into the body to prevent heart attacks. But through its Connected Patient Challenge, launched last month, the company is looking to get more involved in the kind of preventative medicine that’s based on the data generated by doctors, patients and the growth of wearable devices.

The healthcare industry’s transition toward value-based care is forcing providers to adopt new and emerging business models in lieu of traditional fee-for-service payment. At their core, these business models have the principle of value-based reimbursement, in which providers must meet certain quality care standards while controlling costs in order to get paid.