Companion diagnostics is gaining currency as novel drugs are being paired up with tests that determine which patients will have a higher chance of  responding to that drug.

But 15 years after the human genome project has been completed, the progress of precision medicine appears to be woefully slow, at least according to Nicholas Dracopoli, vice president and head of Oncology Biomarkers at Janssen Research & Development, part of Johnson & Johnson. Others believe precision medicine and companion diagnostics have a chicken and egg problem.

Tioma Therapeutics, Inc., a venture-stage biopharmaceutical company developing anti-CD47 antibodies for the treatment of solid and hematologic cancers, today announced it has raised $86 million in Series A venture financing. Proceeds from this financing will be used to further develop Tioma's antibody portfolio, including its lead drug candidate -- an anti-CD47 immune checkpoint inhibitor -- through advanced proof-of-concept in human clinical trials.

Attention, startups creating the next smartwatch or heart-rate sensing fabric: The Homeland Security Department wants your products. 

DHS on Monday opened applications for the second round of its federally focused tech "accelerator," in search of wearable devices that can be customized for first responders.

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced plans to return approximately $250 million to shareholders through a synthetic share repurchase proposal that combines a direct capital repayment with a reverse stock split.

These actions, which will lead to an adjustment in QIAGEN’s share capital, have been used previously by other large, multinational Dutch companies as an efficient way to provide returns to shareholders. The proposal, if adopted, is expected to be similar to QIAGEN repurchasing approximately $250 million of its own shares, but will enable the return of capital to all shareholders in a much faster and more efficient way than through a traditional open-market repurchase program.

In the past few years the wearables sector has been a hive of activity, but it feels like this year things have accelerated, particularly in the realm of health and wellness. A report by Forrester Research projected that 29 percent of Americans will use wearable devices, compared with 18 percent in 2015. It predicts that wearables sales will rise from $4.2 billion in 2015 to $9.8 billion in 2021.

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s acquisition of Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals and its prodrug used to treat heart failure earned top honors in the Mergers and Acquisitions category from Thomson Reuters’ Allicense event on June 8.

Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and a visiting researcher from the National Institutes of Health helped put the Johns Hopkins University scientists who compose the startup in touch, which led to the creation of Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals.

As members of a life sciences advisory and investment banking group, my partners and I have often noted that life sciences companies fall victim to the same mistakes and misconceptions, repeated again and again. These failures mostly hinge upon company management misunderstanding the fundamentals of market dynamics and failing to appreciate the importance of the exit—the sole event where company investors receive a return on their investment, either through an initial public offering (IPO) or a company sale. Unfortunately, the biotech industry's track record on exits is disappointing. According to the National Venture Capital Association (Washington, DC), between 2005 and 2014, only one in five US biotech and medical device companies achieved liquidity after six years. And from my perspective over the past 20 years, that low success rate does not appear to be improving.

Women of the Virginia bioscience community from across the state will lead this first-ever full day event offering examples of working together to build a stronger bioscience industry, stronger companies and institutions, stronger teams and networks, and stronger individuals.  

When: Thursday, September 29, 2016 10:00AM-5:00PM

Where: Inova Center for Personalized Health 3225 Gallows Rd Fairfax, Virginia  22037 United States

Disruptors are a special type of innovator who go outside the box and attempt to change preconceived notions and practices. If you take a look at the meaning of the word, “to disrupt” means to “rupture” or break apart, and essentially disruptors do this - discarding the old ways to bring in new ones. We might even take it a step further and look at as the commonly used root of "dis" which means to "do the opposite of" - and see the idea that disruptors are "fixers" essentially putting the pieces of something broken back together. Here’s a look at three disruptors in Boston Biotech who are revolutionizing traditional pharma to radically change the ways cures are being brought about for disease.

Betamore personally invites BioHealth Innovation companies to apply to pitch and/or demo at Beta City 2016

Details

BetaCity (9/29/2016) celebrates Baltimore’s place as a global destination for entrepreneurship

Seeking the Best + Brightest to Pitch + Demo

• Pitch Competition: 3 PM - $75K+ to be awarded
• Demo Companies showcase products/services to VIP’s, investors, and the broader community
• Focus: Cybersecurity, Health IT, Other Technology

Other Notes

• In addition to the Pitch Competition + Company Demos, the event will feature a VIP Reception, Awards Ceremony, Live Music + Merrymaking

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has exercised a contract option valued at $11.6 million over 12 months under contract 200-2012-52242 for the supply of Vaccinia Immune Globulin (VIGIV) into the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile. VIGIV is a therapeutic licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of complications due to smallpox vaccination. The contract option will require Emergent to conduct manufacturing runs and additional activities in support of maintaining FDA licensure of VIGIV.

Digital Counties Survey award considered a top measures of government technology performance

For the fifth year in a row, Baltimore County is ranked among the top ten counties in the nation according to the Center for Digital Government’s 14th annual 2016 Digital Counties Survey in conjunction with the National Association of Counties (NACo).

PathoVax was founded in late 2014 and is currently managed by myself (Weijie Poh, PhD) and Joshua Wang, PhD. We are both Singaporeans who were awarded fellowships to attend the Pathobiology graduate program at Johns Hopkins University, which is where the RGVax platform was developed. 

We also received training in Singapore under esteemed A*STAR investigators Dr Axel Ulrich (Weijie Poh) and Dr Lisa Ng (Joshua Wang). My research background included infectious diseases and cancer, and I have previously managed a biotech startup (Vector BioLabs) in Philadelphia where I oversaw business development, marketing and product expansion.

Maryland officials announced Tuesday that William Kirwan will chair the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education.   The panel will follow up on the work of the Thornton Commission, which resulted in 2002 legislation that set K-12 education aid formulas. Those have increased public school funding in Maryland by more than 100 percent over the past decade.

The Women In Bio (WIB) Washington DC/Baltimore Chapter and Association for Women in Science (AWIS) Bethesda Chapter invite you to a networking happy hour at La Tasca, Rockville, MD. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet and connect with industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and researchers, while enjoying sangrias and tapas at the lounge. This event is open to both members and non-members.

All guests will enjoy complimentary appetizers and two drink tickets

Submit your nominations for the Verl Zanders Emerging Business of the Year! Nominate your choice for an emerging company that is leading innovation in Metro-Maryland.

• See the award criteria and past winners here.
• Nominees do not have to be MCCC members.
• Self-nominations are welcome.

Nomination Deadline: Friday, August 26, 2016

EU and US strengthen their collaboration on eHealth IT

In December 2010, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the European Commission's DG CONNECT signed a Memorandum of UnderstandingWeb Site Disclaimers (MoU) for transatlantic Cooperation on eHealth/Health IT.

In the spring of 2013, DG CONNECT and HHS published a first Roadmap of MoU actionsWeb Site Disclaimers, focusing on two priority areas (work-streams):

Help MdBio Foundation kick off the school year with an ice cream cone and tour of MdBioLab.  Tour the lab, meet the team or just eat your ice cream.  Doors open 12 - 3PM.

 August 31, 2016  |  12PM - 3PM  |  JHU MoCo Parking Lot

The Tech Council of Maryland is pleased to announce that Martin “Marty” Rosendale has been appointed as senior executive advisor.  In this role, he will assist the association and board of directors in fulfilling its strategic plan objectives.

Marty is a member of the Tech Council and is CEO of Selnova LLC, an advisory firm founded to help entrepreneurs navigate critical and challenging company transitions.  He is also a founding member of the managing committee that established and oversees TCM’s Venture Mentoring Service, where he and other TCM members act as mentors and provide their expertise to promising Maryland tech and life sciences companies that are preparing for an initial venture or institutional financing event.

If immunotherapy has the cancer community riveted on the treatment side, liquid biopsies are equally exciting on the diagnostics end. And IBM is bringing its research heft to bear on the world of liquid biopsy with an intent to build a lab-on-a-chip technology that can separate particles at the nanoscale.

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is asking the business community to provide feedback on County services by completing an online Business Survey.

Mr. Leggett has kicked off the Excellence in Business Services initiative, continuing his efforts to make it easier for businesses to start, grow and thrive in Montgomery County. This business survey is designed to help the county identify areas of improvement in its interactions with business.

Business vitality is critical to a healthy economy that supports the quality of life we all enjoy and Montgomery County is committed to ensuring that businesses have a positive experience when interacting with the County.

Businesses also are welcome to contact the project lead directly with thoughts and feedback: Judy Stephenson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

August 1, 2016: All Points, Maryland – Today Startup Maryland announced dates (September 10 – October 8) and the rough route for the STRT1UP Road Show, the fifth annual state-wide tour and celebration of entrepreneurship and high-growth innovation-centric startup companies.

Roche ($ROG) and Inovio Pharmaceuticals ($INO) had hoped to develop immunotherapies to treat prostate cancer and hepatitis B when they first partnered in 2013. But now that dream is officially dead as Roche has returned the second of two candidates and discontinued its partnership with Inovio.

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) ("the Company" or "RegeneRx"), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair and regeneration, today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a Method of Achieving a Thymosin Beta 4 Concentration in a Human Patient.  The patent covers treating a patient with a desired concentration of Thymosin Beta 4 (Tβ4) over a period of time, as well as treating a patient by maintaining a desired concentration of Tβ4 in a pharmacologically effective range.  The patent expiry will be in late 2031, or longer depending on any extensions available from the USPTO.

Maryland's entrepreneurship bus tour hits the road Sept. 10 for a nearly month-long trip through the state.

Startup Maryland, a entrepreneurship support organization, on Monday announced 24 stops for its fifth annual entrepreneurship tour, called the STRT1UP Road Show.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - 6:00pm, CareFirst Tower, Baltimore, MD

We’re celebrating 11 years of raising awareness about sickle cell disease!  Put on something RED and join us at the CareFirst Tower in Canton for an evening of good food, fun and networking with friends – plus a glorious view of the Baltimore harbor.  We’re honoring Clinical Research Teams as Unsung Heroes.

Dr. Gary Gibbons, Director of NHLBI, will attend and receive a Distinguished Service Award.

In an ongoing effort to improve the experience of doing business in and/or with Montgomery County, County Executive Ike Leggett is inviting the business community to identify opportunities for streamlining and simplifying rules and regulations for businesses, and for improving the County government's services to businesses. Your anonymous and confidential feedback will help us identify areas where change will have a positive impact.

Digital health technology leader WellDoc today announced a collaboration with Human API, the fastest-growing health data platform, through which the two companies will explore the unique integration of type 2 diabetes patient health data within WellDoc’s BlueStar digital therapeutic. Human API’s data platform will provide WellDoc with real-time access to comprehensive clinical patient data from its network of 15,000+ pharmacies, health systems and laboratories. The steady flow of data is shared within a highly secure environment that ensures protection of data and patient privacy.

Three counties in California signed on to use emocha’s apps for managing tuberculosis.

The Johns Hopkins spinout is implementing miDOT in Fresno, Merced and Contra Costa counties.

Gaithersburg, MD’s Altimmune has secured a sizable contract with BARDA to further develop its nasal spray anthrax vaccine candidate, building on an existing collaboration as the biotech prepares to move into clinical trials.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has completed its previously announced spin-off of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:APVO) through the distribution of all of the shares of Aptevo common stock to the holders of Emergent BioSolutions common stock. As a result of the spin-off, Aptevo is now an independent public company and listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "APVO."

GlaxoSmithKline and Alphabet unit Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) made a splash yesterday when they announced the launch of Galvani Bioelectronics, a company that will build upon GSK’s three years of work to develop tiny nerve-altering devices that might one day be used instead of drugs to treat a variety of diseases. The two companies will invest up to £540 million (more than $700 million) over the next seven years, they said, employing 30 scientists at GSK’s research center in the U.K. and at Verily in South San Francisco.

Yes, Hollywood may dramatize the plight of the entrepreneur. But sometimes the best way to capture reality is through fiction. Wherever you are in your business venture, you can glean some insight from these 18 provocative and wildly entertaining films.

We are delighted to announce Illumina Accelerator is accepting applications for its next funding cycle in San Francisco. Illumina Accelerator is the world’s first business accelerator focused on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry. It drives value for genomics startups developing breakthrough applications in therapeutics, diagnostics, agriculture, direct to consumer, synthetic biology, and beyond. Selected genomics startups will receive seed investment, business guidance, and fully operational lab space for six months in San Francisco, starting in January 2017. Applications for the fifth funding cycle are due by September 1, 2016.

The House Small Business Committee issued a report (H.Rpt. 114-705) on legislation (H.R. 4783) to reauthorize and improve the Small Business Innovation Research Program...