BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives

The BioHealth Capital Region Forum Planning Committee has made the difficult decision to postpone our 6th annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that was scheduled for April 14th and 15th at AstraZeneca. We believe the health and safety of all participants is of paramount importance. Following the most recent reports from the CDC, the WHO, and the state of Maryland’s ban on gatherings of 250 people or more, we have made this decision.

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Executive Director of the Universities at Shady Grove, Stewart L. Edelstein, Ph.D., joins BioTalk to discuss his career, USG, and its role in the BioHealth Capital Region

Dr. Stewart Edelstein joined the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) as Executive Director in 2002 and in 2007 was named to the dual title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University System of Maryland (USM).

USG is a regional campus of USM that offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs from nine partner universities. During Dr. Edelstein’s tenure, USG expanded its number of participating universities, as well as the breadth and depth of its academic programs, and enrollment has grown significantly, to more than 3,000 students. The campus’s capacity for future enrollment growth has doubled with the recent opening of a new Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Education Facility, which is expanding degree and certification offerings in healthcare, engineering, biosciences, computer science and other areas.

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In accordance with state and federal recommendations to combat COVID19, BioHealth Innovation has modified the EIR Feedback Sessions for the near future to take place by videoconference only.   There now are a couple openings tomorrow (3/18).  To participate in this session, please register using this link www.tinyurl.com/EIR feedback and send your ppt presentation including the top 3 topics on which you would like feedback to BHI@BioHealthInnovation.org by 2 p.m. 3/17/20.  The next sessions are scheduled to take place by videoconference on 4/22 and 5/27.

(by videoconference)

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OVERVIEW

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), is a Montgomery County innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together management, funding, and markets. BHI is seeking a life sciences professional with consulting, market research and/or portfolio management experience to join the BHI’s team and serve as a Senior Analyst, Ph.D. to manage and support the Analyst team through training and front facing of potential start-up CEOs and Companies.

POSITION DESCRIPTION – Senior Analyst, Ph.D.

The Senior Analyst will manage the analysts and provide project support and guidance to the team as well as to new entrepreneurs on projects including SBIR Grants, corporate and private investments. This will entail market, technology, regulatory and other business intelligence research to support BHI consulting, coaching of companies and the Analyst team profit center. This is a hands-on leadership position. 

Download the Full Job Description.

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It’s at the center of some of the most groundbreaking work to advance human ingenuity in the region — and save lives. And, economically, it’s been home to some of the biggest news about M&A activity, venture capital and job growth. When it comes to growing industries, the life sciences sector is among the most impactful in the area. Spanning hospital research labs and manufacturing centers where production takes place, harnessing living cells to create new treatments and other biotech, biomedical and pharma work is happening in a footprint that knits together Baltimore, the Maryland suburbs, D.C. and Northern Virginia.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) whereby Emergent will collaborate with Novavax, utilizing its molecule-to-market contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to support bringing into the clinic Novavax’s novel experimental vaccine candidate to protect against coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Under the terms of the agreement, Emergent will produce the COVID-19 experimental vaccine candidate, which is based on the proprietary recombinant protein nanoparticle technology platform of Novavax and utilizing their proprietary Matrix-M™ adjuvant to enhance immune responses. Emergent has initiated work for this program anticipating that the COVID-19 experimental vaccine candidate will be used in a Phase 1 clinical study within the next four months.

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Global life sciences company Emergent Biosolutions Inc EBS 6.61% CEO Bob Kramer said Thursday that his company’s partnership with Novavax, Inc. NVAX 6.3% could result in the creation of a therapy that poses a “fairly low risk.”

Emergent Has Past Experience With Anthrax, Botulism Emergent is using its own platform to help Novavax with the creation of a coronavirus vaccine, Kramer said during a guest appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” segment Thursday morning.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded to provide an effective therapeutic response to the global rise of multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogenic bacteria, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the clinical development of PhageBank™, a personalized bacteriophage therapeutic for the treatment of MDR and complicated bacterial infections. The Phase 1/2 trial represents the first study of an expanding phage library under FDA allowance for a multi-site study of intravenous administration and/or bladder instillation of phage therapy. Beginning in Q2, APT will enroll patients at up to three clinical sites for the evaluation of PhageBank for the treatment of complicated and chronic recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs).

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QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced it will develop a new QIAstat-Dx test kit to differentiate the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from 21 other serious respiratory infections and will receive advanced development support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Accelerated development of the QIAstat-Dx test kit further expands QIAGEN’s global mobilization for the emergency, which already includes a dramatic increase in production of components for a full range of U.S. and international testing protocols.

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The Food and Drug Administration has given an emergency approval to a test made by Swiss drug and diagnostics maker Roche for detecting the Covid-19 virus.

The company said Friday that the FDA had approved an emergency use authorization, or EUA, to its Cobas SARS-CoV-2 test. The test is designed to use nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples to detect the coronavirus using Roche’s Cobas 6800 and 8800 lab-testing systems. The systems are designed to provide thousands of results over a 24-hour period, the company said.

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Baltimore health tech startup b. well Connected Health has raised a $16 million round as it looks to accelerate its growth.

The Series A round was led by UnityPoint Health Ventures, the venture capital arm of UnityPoint Health, an Iowa-based health system. Other investors include Wisconsin-based community health system ThedaCare and Well Ventures, a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., according to a release. The five-year-old company has previously raised $11.5 million in seed funding, bringing its total funding to over $27 million. In 2018, b. well also raised a total of $8.2 million in convertible debt funding from more than 60 investors.

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MENLO PARK, Calif. and NEW YORK, March 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced that it has closed on $3.6 billion for its latest fund, bringing the firm’s committed capital to nearly $24 billion over its 42-year history. In conjunction with the new fund, Liza Landsman has been named General Partner. Landsman, who joined the firm’s New York office as a Venture Partner in 2018 after serving as president of NEA portfolio company Jet.com, focuses on software and services investments across the consumer landscape.

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U.S. prescription drugs can broadly be divided into two categories: 1) small molecule drugs and 2) biologics. Small molecule drugs tend to be chemically synthesized and often have molecular weights under 1,000 Daltons. Contrastingly, biologic drugs are larger and more complex molecules, for example proteins, viruses, and living cells such as CAR-T cells.

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OSLO, NORWAY, March 10, 2020 – CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, today announced the expansion of its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio. CEPI will be investing a further $4.4 million in partnering agreements with Novavax, Inc. and The University of Oxford to rapidly develop vaccine candidates against COVID-19. This brings CEPI’s total investment in COVID-19 vaccine R&D to $23.7 million.

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Columbia, MD – March 11, 2020 – Welldoc, a leading digital health company, announced today a collaboration with Dexcom, the global leader in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for people with diabetes. Welldoc and Dexcom signed an initial data partnership in 2019. This new collaboration will allow Welldoc’s award-winning BlueStar®, a digital health product for individuals living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, to deliver insights to Dexcom G6® CGM system users. These insights go beyond glucose trends to inform individuals how their glucose is being affected by other key parameters, including medication adherence, activity, nutrition, sleep and more. The parties will also explore additional opportunities with Welldoc customers to leverage a more integrated offering.

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BALTIMORE — Two Johns Hopkins microbiologists have developed an in-house coronavirus screening test that may soon allow the health system to test as many as 1,000 people per day.

Karen Carroll, M.D., and Heba Mostafa, M.B.B.Ch., Ph.D are the microbiologists leading this.

“We will be able to diagnose more cases. This will allow the control of exposure,” said Mostafa, assistant professor of pathology and director of the molecular virology laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Image: Photo by: Johns Hopkins Medicine

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is teaming up with Wellcome and Mastercard to form the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a $125 million effort to help find potential treatments for the coronavirus epidemic and future threats.

The accelerator will bring together the World Health Organization, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, government, and other philanthropic groups to develop therapies for COVID-19.

Image: Mark Suzman. (Gates Foundation Photo)

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The number of cases of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, and COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, continue to increase in the United States—both in number and in location (real-time map). At the same time, the number and severity of symptoms post-infection can vary by age and other risk factors (CDC Report). High level officials and politicians have been reported to be infected by, or in contact with, the virus. And there is no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or licensed cure for COVID-19 (other than time, supportive measures as necessary, and a healthy immune system). “Although there are investigational COVID-19 vaccines and treatments under development, these investigational products are in the early stages of product development and have not yet been fully tested for safety or effectiveness.”

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GEN publishes its updated annual A-List highlighting the top 15 best-selling drugs of 2019. Eleven of last year’s 15 top-selling drugs registered year-over-year sales gains, with seven of the 11 racking up double-digit increases . . .

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All TBS Osteo features and main arguments. Included, in greater detail.

• What is TBS Osteo powered by TBS iNsight and what is TBS (Trabecular Bone Score): the main arguments.
• TBS Osteo compatibilities with different DXA systems.
• Main evidence of TBS clinical validation.
• How TBS can be a significant aid to better characterize your patient’s risk profile.
• Short grid to understand the risk of fracture based on a combined model of TBS and BMD.

Updated for TBS Osteo 3.1

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Last Wednesday, the House Science Committee, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, invited Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Dr. Walter Copan to testify before the Subcommittee on reauthorizing the agency. NIST was last authorized in 2016 as part of the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act. Director Copan’s testimony covered each of the technologies the Trump Administration is collectively referring to as “industries of the future,” including Quantum Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Advanced Manufacturing, and Biotechnology. He specifically commented on how NIST catalyzes partnerships between industry, academia, government, and other organizations to promote U.S. innovation and economic competitiveness.

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Precise loading of diverse peptides for vaccination is enabled by a strategy for peptide–TLR7/8 conjugate self-assembly of uniform nanoparticles. The approach is compatible with the development of personalized strategies, such as cancer vaccines targeting patient-specific neoepitopes.

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University of Maryland athletics on Wednesday announced a series of safety measures for its home events amid concern over the coronavirus outbreak, now labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Among several changes announced in a release, “Effective immediately, only student-athletes, coaches, essential personnel, officials, credentialed media and a limited number of family members of the competing teams will be permitted to attend games, until at least April 10.”

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New Enterprise Associates has raised $3.6 billion for its 17th venture fund, the largest in the more than 42-year history of the firm.

NEA set out in the second quarter of 2019 to raise New Enterprise Associates 17 LP and held a final closing in February at its target, said General Partner Mohamad Makhzoumi.

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Judy Costello is the Managing Director of Economic Development for BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI). A longtime supporter of the region’s entrepreneur and start-up communities, Judy Costello joined BioHealth Innovation in August 2017. Prior to that she served as Director of the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences and Deputy Director of the department’s BioMaryland Center. She previously worked for fifteen years for the Business Alliance organizing venture pitch forums, entrepreneur bootcamps, tech transfer showcases, educational seminars, and other programs connecting entrepreneurs, faculty innovators, students, and industry leaders in Maryland, DC and Virginia with each other and with those providing funding and other resources to young companies.

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Register Now for the 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) Forum held on April 14-15 at AstraZeneca in Gaithersburg, MD. Join your peers biotech and life science executives and expert speakers from industry, academia, healthcare, government, finance and real estate development, among others, converged to discuss the BHCR’s path forward to becoming a top three U.S. biotech cluster by 2023.

Register Now

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By Ethel Rubin

Opportunities abound for every investor looking for deal flow. Conversely, there have never been so many opportunities for entrepreneurs to pitch, network and mingle with investors. No matter what space you are in – fintech, biotech, edtech, cleantech, medtech – the world of investor showcases is exploding. Nevertheless, whatever the stage of your technology, there is nothing like a “warm” introduction and a few surefire ways of getting investors to take a look at you:

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If you have been in fundraising mode anytime in the past 2-3 years and have gotten any term sheets with terms that were either outrageous or draconian, we want to hear from you. BHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ethel Rubin is working on a future blog post and would like to hear from you. Email here at erubin@biohealthinnovation.org and share your term sheet stories today. Any information shared will be de-identified before adding to her post and you name/company will be kept confidential.

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WASHINGTON (February 19) – Today, a diverse group of research and scientific organizations, as well as those directly involved in commercializing new products, launched Bayh-Dole 40, a coalition that will celebrate and protect the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, better known as the “Bayh-Dole Act.”The Bayh-Dole Act has empowered universities, small businesses, and nonprofits that have received federal grants to retain ownership of any patented inventions — and license those patents to private firms, who then turn promising ideas into real-life products that improve peoples’ lives. Thanks to Bayh-Dole, the public and private sectors have worked together to translate basic scientific research into life-saving drugs and medical devices, internet and GPS technologies, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and countless other innovations.

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Orgenesis Inc (NASDAQ:ORGS) announced a collaboration with Johns Hopkins University to utilize its point-of-care platform to develop and supply gene therapies and technologies.

The company’s POCare cell therapy platform is designed to advance the development of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products — medicines based on genes, tissues or cells — through collaborations and in-licensing with other companies.

CEO Vered Caplan is confident in the pedigree and resources of the Baltimore research university.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LumaCyte, an advanced bioanalytical instrumentation company specializing in vaccine and cell and gene therapy bioprocess, production, and R&D analytical capabilities, announces its expansion into Europe with the establishment of LumaCyte, B.V. in The Netherlands. LumaCyte has experienced a rapid increase in global demand for Radiance®, it’s label-free single cell analysis instrument, with a large portion of that demand coming from Europe. In the fall of 2019, LumaCyte reported that it was strengthening its infrastructure to support a growing customer base, with strong efforts being placed on servicing the expansive European market. The company has expanded its US headquarters, significantly increasing manufacturing and laboratory footprints, as well as completed the rigorous EU specific regulatory CE mark certification, indicating Radiance® conformity with EEA health and safety standards, which is a prerequisite for its instrument sale and use.

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Incoming University of Maryland President Darryll Pines may describe himself as a bit of a joker — but he is serious about building out the school’s tech and startup ecosystems.

“The university is an incredible innovation ecosystem, but we were not leveraging every aspect of it. Now you will start to see a lot more startups coming out of the University of Maryland,” Pines told the Washington Business Journal in an interview after a Friday press conference punctuated by accolades, off-script jokes by Pines and plenty of Terrapin pride.

Image: Darryll Pines has been named the next president of the University of Maryland, College Park. JOHN CONSOLI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

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The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) is evolving quickly and it can be tough to keep pace with the latest news emerging from the host of biotech, medical device and cell, and gene therapy companies in the area. BioBuzz, when combined with some strategic social media follows, can help you stay on top of the latest developments, news and thought leadership coming out of the BHCR.

Image: https://biobuzz-io.cdn.ampproject.org

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U.S. healthcare providers in 2019 experienced almost triple the number of breaches to their records than they did in 2018.

That’s the assertion of healthcare compliance analytics platform Protenus in its Protenus Breach Barometer report, which reported that 41 million patient records were breached in 2019. The increase in breaches was a 48.6% difference from 15 million in 2018, while the trend of at least one health data breach per day — a trend first reported in 2016 — remains.

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Less than 4% of money raised for cancer research targets pediatric cancers, but a D.C.-area charity that’s devoting resources to benefit young cancer victims is sponsoring trials at Children’s National Hospital.

Clinical trials underway for about a year are turning patients’ own immune system cells into an army of soldiers to attack their brain cancer tumors.

“We’re all really excited,” said Dr. Eugene Hwang, associate division chief of oncology at Children’s National Hospital. “The biggest problem would have been if we ran into a big side effect or toxicity signal, and we have not.”

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WASHINGTON (February 19) – Today, a diverse group of research and scientific organizations, as well as those directly involved in commercializing new products, launched Bayh-Dole 40, a coalition that will celebrate and protect the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, better known as the “Bayh-Dole Act.”

The Bayh-Dole Act has empowered universities, small businesses, and nonprofits that have received federal grants to retain ownership of any patented inventions — and license those patents to private firms, who then turn promising ideas into real-life products that improve peoples’ lives.

Image: https://www.ipwatchdog.com

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Date: 1/22/2020 Expressions of Interest are due no later than 4:59pm EST on Monday, March 2, 2020. CAPCaT Contact: Mary Dubuque Email: mary.dubuque@umassmed.edu

Funding Opportunity The Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies (CAPCaT) in Heart, Lung, Blood, and Sleep Disorders (U54HL143541) announces the 2020 solicitation of grant applications focused on developing, adapting, or validating point of care technologies that can be rapidly applied to heart, lung, blood, or sleep disorders, with additional interest in projects that incorporate complementary and integrative health approaches. We plan, based on the receipt of meritorious applications, to fund up to six awards of up to $100,000 over 12 months, with one or more award(s) focused on complementary and integrative health.

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BALTIMORE, Feb. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The W. P. Carey Foundation, whose generosity launched Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, has made a $25 million commitment to the school to recruit renowned faculty, enhance academic programs, and help launch student careers. The gift will be matched with commitments from Johns Hopkins University and contributions from other donors for a total of $50 million.

The W. P. Carey Foundation’s new gift provides Carey Business School with support to ensure its path of growth and advancement in shaping business leaders of the future.

Image: Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

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Doylestown-based Pennsylvania Biotech Center (PABC) this week announced a sponsorship program intended to support early-stage biotech companies via supplier services, education and collaboration.

This comes seven months after PABC announced a $50 million dollar investment fund and accelerator providing seed and Series A and B funding to its incubator companies.

The program was created by Hatch Biofund Management, LLC, the operators of the life science venture fund. Sponsors in the program will specifically work with early-stage companies in PABC’s incubator and the Unite IQ incubator PABC runs at The Discovery Labs in King of Prussia.

Image: Pennsylvania Biotech Center’s future expanded campus.

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Most companies would admit that they miss more often than they hit when it comes to talent.

McKinsey & Company recently cited three rather stunning stats about talent: (1) 82% of Fortune 500 companies don’t believe they recruit highly talented people; (2) Of companies that do believe they recruit great talent, only 7% believe they can retain it; (3) and only 23% of managers and senior executives that deal with talent-related issues believe their current strategies actually work.

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It’s highly appropriate that the 40th anniversary of the Bayh-Dole Act occurs in a year as politically contentious as that in which it passed. In 1980, many predicted that our best years were behind us and that the United States would soon lose its place as the world’s economic superpower. Experts proclaimed the best remedy was to adopt the “Japan, Inc.” model, where the government bureaucracy orchestrated a coalition of dominant companies boldly plotting the future (that idea was particularly popular with many in Washington, D.C.). The patent system was under constant attack for being unfair, the U.S. suffered from double digit unemployment and inflation (dubbed “the misery index”) and energy costs skyrocketed. Congress discovered that despite billions of dollars invested annually in federally funded R&D, few inventions were being brought to the marketplace where they could benefit the American people. It felt like the bottom had fallen out from under the feet of our nation.

Image: https://www.ipwatchdog.com

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Pete Briskman, an Executive Managing Director with JLL, leads the Tenant Advisory and brokerage business for JLL in Maryland, sits down with BioTalk Host Rich Bendis to talk his role with JLL, his focus on Life Sciences, and vision of the BioHealth Capital Region

Pete Briskman works with many of the regions’ most exciting and fastest growing Life Science Companies assisting them with their real estate and site selection strategies for Headquarter transactions, relocations, build-to-suits, renewals, expansions, and consolidations. Pete and his team bring proprietary tools to help organizations make informed decisions around the size and scale of their operation, assessment of labor, modeling and programming of occupancy, approach to optimizing business and economic incentives, and very unique real estate market intelligence that can be communicated via our proprietary geo-spatial market intelligence platform.  He is the recipient of GWCAR’s Commercial Leasing Broker of the Year and has been recognized with GWCAR Office Leasing Transactions of the Year for multiple clients.

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New Members to Add Experience to Board of Directors

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, February 12, 2020 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced that its Board of Directors unanimously has approved the appointments of six new board members:

• Sean Augerson, Vice President, Head of Operations Americas and APAC, QIAGEN
• Peter Briskman, Executive Managing Director, JLL
• Juergen Klenk, Ph.D., Principal, Deloitte
• Dr. Jay Perman, MD, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
• Aaron Ren, Head of Business Development and Operations, Viela Bio
• Tracey Vetterick, Vice President and COO, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca

“I am privileged to welcome these new members to our board,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “The addition of their leadership experience in the BioHealth Capital Region and beyond ensures in BHI’s ability to have our finger on the pulse of innovation and fresh viewpoints. I also would like to thank Rip Ballou of GSK, Robert Caret of the University System of Maryland, Doug Liu of QIAGEN, Ashish Kulkarni, of Avantor, and Beth Meagher of Deloitte Consulting LLP for their many years of service on our Board of Directors.

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With the coronavirus growing more deadly each day, several companies are racing to produce the first vaccine or antiviral medication to combat the spread of the virus. One company that seems to have made large strides towards finding a vaccine, is Gaithersburg-based Novavax.

The genome of the coronavirus was published last month, which opened the floodgates for potential vaccine attempts. Novavax is most notable for releasing an Ebola vaccine within 90 days of the genome being published in 2015, and they estimate they could have a similar timetable for this vaccine as well.

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New Enterprise Associates Partner Sara Nayeem sat down with Proactive’s Christine Corrado at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York.

The venture capital fund, which has a cumulative committed capital of $20 billion, focuses on investing in across all verticals in healthcare and in technology.

Image: https://www.proactiveinvestors.com

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APPLY NOW 

Gain Visibility for Your BioHealth Company – and $10,000.

Prior winners:  Sonavex, LifeSprout, Galen Robotics, Floreo 

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BALTIMORE, February 18, 2020 (Newswire.com) – Over 40 million patient records were breached in 2019, according to new data released today in the Protenus Breach Barometer®. Published by Protenus, a healthcare compliance analytics platform that protects patient data for the nation’s leading health systems, the Breach Barometer is the industry’s definitive source for health data breach reporting.  

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SANTA MONICA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 10, 2020– Kite, a Gilead Company (Nasdaq: GILD), today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Biologics License Application (BLA) and granted Priority Review designation for KTE-X19, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

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The NIA Office of Small Business Research (OSBR) team is intrigued by startups and their unique role in research and development. Of course, we’re a bit biased — after all, we lead NIA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) programs, which are designed to help new companies commercialize products and technology to extend the healthy, active years of life.

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The University System of Maryland Maryland Momentum Fund and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, have invested $350,000 in a medical technology startup, the 11th investment from the fund. University of Maryland BioPark startup ARMR Systems Inc. was awarded $350,000, the first time a BioPark resident has received an investment from the fund. The university investments led ARMR’s …

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Mtech Ventures, a University of Maryland technology company incubator program, won a $50,000 U.S. Small Business Administration Growth Accelerator Fund competition award to support innovation in federal Opportunity Zones in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.

Through the grant, Mtech Ventures is partnering with the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) and the Center for Accelerating Innovation to organize community-needs roundtables, identify promising innovations, develop entrepreneurs and build awareness of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Tech Transfer (STTR) program in low-income census tracts called federal Opportunity Zones (OZ). Maryland has 149 Opportunity Zones, while the District of Columbia has 25. Federal tax incentives for new investments are available in these zones.

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Citizens across Virginia need health solutions and affordable health care to live full, healthy and productive lives. Lawmakers in the General Assembly are examining a broad range of policies in an attempt to relieve the burden of rising health care costs. But some of the proposals under consideration might have unintended consequences for both patients and Virginia’s innovation economy. As our elected officials consider how to address health care costs, they should ensure that any measure provides meaningful financial relief to patients and preserves the environment for medical innovation in Virginia that delivers groundbreaking treatments and creates thousands of high-paying jobs in the commonwealth.

Image: Kelli Price Photography

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WASHINGTON – The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announced today that the application deadline for its annual “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition is extended one week to Feb. 22 at midnight EST. Innovators and startup companies with devices in the pediatric cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine, or NICU sectors are invited to apply for a share of up to $250,000 in FDA-funded awards and access to a newly created NCC-PDI pediatric device accelerator program led by MedTech Innovator. Applications are being accepted now.

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HHS on Monday launched a new program to spur development and commercialization of technologies that would help the U.S. respond to health security threats and disasters.

The Foundry for American Biotechnology, a public-private partnership, will be jointly managed by the department’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response—or ASPR—and the New Hampshire technology firm Deka Research and Development Corp.

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Two commercial real estate firms with a significant presence in the marketing of life sciences properties have issued reports over the past 12 months that illustrate the growth in industry employment in recent years.

One life sciences segment, “Research and Development in Biotechnology” (NAICS code 541714), has largely driven that growth, with its number of jobs more than doubling over the past decade, to 204,800 as of 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data cited by Cushman & Wakefield in “Life Sciences 2020: The Future Is Here,” a report released February 6. Between 2010 and 2019, biotech R&D employment grew 5.1%, compared with 1.6% for total employment. Most of the increase, more than 70,000 jobs, occurred between 2013 and 2019.

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The University of Maryland announced Wednesday that it has appointed a new president.

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents appointed Darryll J. Pines to succeed Wallace Loh. Pines’ appointment is effective July 1, and he will be the 34th president of the University of Maryland, College Park.

Pines has been the A. James Clark School of Engineering dean for the past 11 years. He has been with the university for 25 years, starting as an assistant professor in 1995.

Image: https://umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/usm-board-regents-appoints-darryll-j-pines-president-university-maryland-college-park

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Representatives of various industries trekked to Annapolis for a marathon hearing on several bills aimed at generating revenue for public education reforms.

Image: Representatives from the Maryland Department of Commerce said getting rid tax credit programs would send a signal that the state is not committed to growing businesses and supporting economic development. BBJ FILE

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ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is accepting proposals to lease a bio-manufacturing facility configured to produce biologicals under cGMP conditions in compliance with FDA requirements for phase I/II clinical trials. The facility is also equipped to perform process development research, pre-clinical manufacturing for material necessary to conduct IND-enabling toxicology studies, proof of concept (POC) studies, and process demonstration in advance of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) manufacturing. IBBR is a joint research enterprise between the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Image: https://finance.yahoo.com

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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., February 11, 2020 – Johnson & Johnson today announced that its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will further expedite its investigational coronavirus vaccine program through an expanded collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Image: https://www.jnj.com

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Rebecca Stauffer, Parenteral Drug Association Managing Editor posed the following questions to PDA Letter Article readers in fall of 2019. “What if developers of cell and gene therapies treated their products like software releases? What if the human body could be manipulated like a highly complex computer?”

We invite you to join us for a LIVE and interactive presentation from Jeff Galvin, CEO of American Gene Technologies sharing his passion, vision, and conviction of “reprogramming the human computer.”

Image: https://www.eventbrite.com

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FREDERICK, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Maryland Tech Council (MTC) announced today it has expanded its offices to Frederick to broaden its reach throughout the State of Maryland and to meet the growing needs of its members. The satellite office will be located at 12 West Church Street. Additionally, MTC is planning a move of its Montgomery County satellite office to the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) in Rockville. MTC will continue to utilize its satellite offices in Annapolis and other key life science and tech hubs throughout Maryland.

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Feb. 10, 2020 — Linda Larrimore has been getting chemotherapy every other week for 6 years to treat and manage colon cancer.

The chemotherapy is keeping her health stable, so it’s well worth it to the mother and grandmother to regularly get the treatment. Usually, she spends the 4½ hours every other week reading, watching TV, or chatting.

Image: https://www.webmd.com

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Here’s a useful article that looks at the fate of university-licensed startup (ULS) life sciencecompanies over the last few years. There are more and more such companies (a greater than tenfold increase in their number since 1990), but a comprehensive look at success rates (and how such rates vary according to the universities involved) has been harder to come by. A lot of work went into this overview, and I’m glad the authors were able to assemble it. They spent a lot of time digging through tech-transfer records and contacting universities to make sure that they’d covered everything, checking venture capital announcements and state corporate registrations, and searching through press releases, LinkedIn pages, and more. The data that they have produced look like the best we have on the subject.

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The streets of Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak — are empty and quiet except for the sound of loudspeakers squawking quarantine instructions to its sheltered-in-place residents. Flights to some Chinese cities have been terminated. A Tokyo, Japan-based travel agency has canceled nearly 20,000 of its Chinese package tours.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus, which has already killed more people than SARS, a global health emergency. There are currently 11 people stricken with the novel virus in the U.S. and over 17,000 are infected globally with numbers jumping exponentially by the day.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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I made illustration of Corona virus today.

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The first BioTalk of 2020 kicks off with Andrea Alms, MS, MBA, Co-Fund Manager of BioHealth Capital Fund as she discusses her background, the world of Angel Investment, and her vision for the Fund

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Andrea Alms is the co-fund manager of BioHealth Capital Fund.  The BioHealth Capital Fund is a venture capital early stage investment fund created by the BioHealth Innovation (“BHI”), located in Rockville, MD, the center of the BioHealth Capital Region. BHI manages a for profit subsidiary BioHealth Innovation Management (BHIM) which owns equity in 27 of the 108 client companies of BHI and has had 3 exits. Our lead investor is Alexandria Real Estate Equities; and, our reference is Joel Marcus.  Andrea is recognized for her abilities in guiding venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and other transactions involving early stage companies. Andrea assists limited partners, general partners, investors, and entrepreneurs as they create, build, and buy or sell businesses, primarily in BioHealth, healthcare, technology, and digital health products industries.

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Here’s a list of our upcoming events.  Get them on your calendar so you don’t miss anything.

Click here for the full list

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SOMERSET, N.J. & GOSSELIES, Belgium–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT), the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies, development, and manufacturing solutions for drugs, biologics, gene therapies, and consumer health products, and MaSTherCell Global, Inc., a technology-focused cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization to leading cell therapy innovators, today announced that Catalent has agreed to acquire MaSTherCell Global, a company backed by Great Point Partners, SFPI-FPIM, and Orgenesis Inc. (NASDAQ:ORGS), for an aggregate of $315 million in cash, subject to a customary adjustments.

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As it gears up for expansion in 2020, Baltimore-based Avhana Health is kicking off a partnership with one of Florida’s largest health system, cofounder Noah Weiner said.

The downtown Baltimore-based company is working with AdventHealth to launch its platform that improves electronic health records throughout the system’s network of doctor’s offices.

Image: Avhana Health cofounders and brothers Noah and Nate Weiner. (Courtesy photo)

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BHI is assisting one of its client companies, Medimaps) seeking US sales, customer and marketing support (see position descriptions). Medimaps is an exciting start-up company that is prepared to grow exponentially in the next phase and is looking for dynamic, experienced, and flexible people interested in being a part of this journey. The company is seeking someone who would like to be a critical player to the success of this exciting medtech company. Medimaps Group (MG) is the leader in bone and tissue microarchitecture software analytics. Its proven technology helps doctors make improved clinical decisions for the patients. Over the past several years, Medimaps has developed innovative technology, demonstrated and published clinical efficacy, received regulatory approval, built its network of distributors and partners around the world, and gained worldwide acceptance as standards of care for osteoporosis fracture risk assessment. Medimaps’ premier product, Trabecular Bone Score (TBS) is sold in more than 60 countries. MG currently has 20+ employees between our Headquarters in Geneva Switzerland, our R&D in Bordeaux, France, and our General Office in the US which is expanding. To apply for either position, please send your resume, cover letter, and three professional references to BHI@BIoHealthInnovation.org

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Montgomery College’s Workforce Development and Continuing Education (WDCE) Program will offer a program for budding entrepreneurs in Montgomery County to gain start-up business resources and get newly created businesses registered. The program, named LaunchCamp, starts April 7 and is a 12-week sprint for entrepreneurial-minded students to turn their ideas into registered businesses with identified customers.

Funded through the Montgomery College Foundation Innovation Fund, this start-up business accelerator is an easy-to-apply program that requires just a 1-page business plan, called the Lean Canvas.

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Now that we have stepped over the threshold into 2020, what has the research community learned that will propel progress and how can we enable changes that can move health and science forward?

Here’s a look a 10 trends and big ideas we are watching as this new decade unfolds:

1. Making patients the priority: Retail, banking, and other consumer-focused industries have placed the consumer in the center.

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George Mason University is now looking for private partners to help it build its Amazon-inspired expansion of its Arlington campus, outlining preliminary plans for a building with 225,000 square feet of academic space and 135,000 square feet of private office and retail.

University officials released a request for proposals Tuesday, looking for developers interested in teaming up with Mason to build a new home for the Institute of Digital Innovation on its Virginia Square property. The building is set to include a mix of uses across its 460,000 square feet, with room for classes and research labs alongside space for companies big and small looking to partner with the university.

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BALTIMORE, United States of America, February 6, 2020/APO Group/ — Hemafuse, a surgical autotransfusion device, will revolutionize blood access across Africa. Hemafuse is designed to salvage and recycle whole blood from cases of internal bleeding. The device can be used in both emergencies and scheduled procedures to recover blood from where it pools inside of a patient, into a blood bag, where it is immediately available to be re-transfused back to that same patient.

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CNBC’s Meg Tirrell reports on testing efforts here in the U.S. to detect the coronavirus. With Qiagen’s interim CEO, Thierry Bernard, in Boston.

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Developing medication, devices, and products for children is not a matter of “shrinking” down the adult version. Delivering solutions to our littlest patients requires a long-term approach that deliberately centers children in all stages of innovation – from ideation to incubation, from clinical trials to market.

 Join Chief Innovation Officer of Children’s National Health System Kolaleh Eskandanian and experts in pediatric medical device innovation for a candid discussion on the challenges and opportunities upon designing innovation with children in mind.

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Herndon, VA, Feb. 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced the appointment of Greg Feldmann, President of Skyline Capital Strategies, an affiliate of Woods Rogers, PLC, as CIT GAP Funds Venture Partner. CIT GAP Funds and affiliated Virginia Founder’s Fund (VFF) are committed to identifying viable start-up investment opportunities in all parts of the Commonwealth. As a Venture Partner, Feldmann will provide outreach services to cultivate new and existing sources of deal flow and early-stage investment capital in the Roanoke-Blacksburg corridor, Southside Virginia, Lynchburg and Far Southwest Virginia.“CIT recognizes the wealth of technology and strong entrepreneurial spirit of the Roanoke-Blacksburg corridor and adjacent geographies,” said Tom Weithman, Managing Director of CIT GAP Funds. “A critical part of harnessing those assets to create economic development benefit for the Commonwealth turns on mobilizing capital to drive development of emerging companies.

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In June 2019, MLP Ventures’ The Discovery Labs announced renovation plans for GlaxoSmithKline’s R&D space in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania it acquired the previous year for about $50 million with the goal of turning the space into “co-working” ecosystem for healthcare, life sciences and technology-enabled companies.

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Merck & Co. Inc. unveiled plans Wednesday to spin off products from its women’s health and biosimilars businesses, along with certain legacy brands, into a new independent and publicly traded company.

Going forward, Merck (NYSE: MRK) will focus on its oncology, vaccines, hospital medicine and animal health segments.

Merck expects the spinoff to be completed by the first half of 2021. The pharmaceutical giant anticipates cost savings of more than $1.5 billion — primarily in areas such as manufacturing and sales staff costs — by 2024. In addition, Merck said by continuing to increase investments in its key growth drivers and pipeline assets, it is targeting operating margins to grow to more than 40% in 2024.

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Its potential 1.7 million-square-foot campus in South San Francisco matches the biotech industry’s growth.

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Startup Maryland recently unveiled video pitches from the participants in the 2019 STRT1UP Roadshow. Entrants are now in the running for the Pitch Across Maryland competition. Categories this year for the Pitch Across Maryland include: Fan Favorite, Champions’ Choice, Industries and Overall Winner.

The STRT1UP Roadshow, which is the year-long tour around the state, involves the video bus into which entrepreneurs climb to deliver a two to four minute video pitch summarizing their venture and opportunity, according to a Startup Maryland press release.

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Life sciences and biotechnology business ventures in Southeastern North Carolina could get a boost through a new competition launched Tuesday by the N.C. Biotechnology Center Southeastern Office, in partnership with UNCW’s CIE.

Entrepreneurs and companies can now apply for the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge, which aims to “raise the profile, increase the volume, and enhance the success of life science commercialization, entrepreneurs, and companies in the region,” according to the venture challenge website.

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Register now for the eighth annual Public Health Research at Maryland day on Tuesday April 7. We’ll delve into the latest research focused on improving the health and well-being of diverse communities across Maryland, the nation and the world. This year’s theme, Our 2020 Vision for Healthy People 2030, highlights the release of the new Healthy People Objectives for 2030 on March 31.

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Vigene Biosciences Inc.’s has opened its new research facility in Rockville.

The opening of a new laboratory at 5 Research Court — near Interstate-270’s Shady Grove Road exit — significantly increases the biotech’s Rockville footprint, adding 51,000 square feet to its existing 20,000 square feet at a separate facility nearby. The project cost more than $20 million, according to Vigene.

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Theraly Fibrosis, a preclinical-stage biotechnology company focused on development and commercialization of drugs for various fibrotic diseases today announced the company has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the amount of $3.9 million to support development of TLY012 for treatment of chronic pancreatitis.

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Benjamin Wu, the new CEO and president of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp., is quickly building out his staff.

The former top adviser to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has brought on five new hires since stepping in to lead Montgomery’s economic development efforts on Dec. 18, including a new senior vice president for business development and an opportunity zones project leader.

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February is Rare Disease Awareness Month, a month-long celebration focused on the suffering and triumphs of patients and their families stricken by rare diseases culminating on February 29th – International Rare Disease Day. The rapidly developing cell and gene therapy fields in recent years have led to a rare disease R&D boom of sorts, with an estimated 800 rare disease-focused clinical development projects currently in process. The biotech industry sees a new window for improving rare disease patient’s lives and potentially curing rare diseases that impact one in ten American and an estimated 400 million people globally.

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GlaxoSmithKline has licensed a tuberculosis vaccine to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (MRI). The deal sets the stage for a push to build on recent phase 2b data and make the vaccine available in low-income countries where TB is prevalent.

The vaccine, M72/AS01E, is made up of an immunogenic fusion protein based on two TB antigens. GSK combined that protein with the adjuvant found in its shingles prophylactic Shingrix to create a subunit vaccine. Last year, a phase 2b trial linked the vaccine to 50% protection against progression to active pulmonary tuberculosis for three years in adults infected with the mycobacterium.

Image: Bill Gates (CC BY 2.0/Ben Fisher/GAVI Alliance)

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Developing medication, devices, and products for children is not a matter of “shrinking” down the adult version. Delivering solutions to our littlest patients requires a long-term approach that deliberately centers children in all stages of innovation – from ideation to incubation, from clinical trials to market.

Read More

Here’s a list of our upcoming events.  Get them on your calendar so you don’t miss anything.

Click here for the full list

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Boston Properties has entered into a joint venture with Alexandria Real Estate Equities to build a 1.7M SF life science campus in South San Francisco.

Boston Properties confirmed the deal in its Q4 2019 earnings call this week.

The project will involve about 640K SF of ground-up development, and the potential repositioning of about 1M SF of office space into new life science buildings, according to Boston Properties.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Coolcaesar at the English language Wikipedia

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The Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering has built and is regularly updating an online dashboard for tracking the worldwide spread of the coronavirus outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Lauren Gardner, a civil engineering professor and CSSE’s co-director, spearheaded the effort to launch the mapping website on Wednesday. The site displays statistics about deaths and confirmed cases of coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, across a worldwide map. It also allows visitors to download the data for free.

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What Nobel Laureate Dr. Jim Allison’s Story Can Teach Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Jim Allison shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018, along with Tasuku Hanjo, for pioneering the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors to develop cancer therapies.

Allison’s remarkable and groundbreaking research into T-Cell activation, and his subsequent work developing his discoveries into viable cancer treatment, has extended the lives of thousands of cancer patients. Allison’s work is more than remarkable: It represents an earth-shaking paradigm shift in scientific thought about how cancer works and could be defeated.

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Around the world, populations are getting older, and their health needs are becoming more complex. At the same time, technological advances are changing healthcare delivery. In this edition, The Next Normal explores how hospitals will innovate in the coming decade—and what it will mean for both patients and healthcare professionals.

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The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is the largest and most informative healthcare investment symposium in the industry, bringing together industry leaders, emerging fast-growth companies, innovative technology creators, and members of the investment community.

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“The Best Networking Event in the MidAtlantic.” This will be our 43rd consecutive Sold Out event over the last 9 years! Over 70% of previous attendees surveyed say that CONNECTpreneur is the “Number One” tech and investor event in the Mid-Atlantic region! This unique event is like none other in the Mid-Atlantic, because of the high quality of our attendees, speakers and presenters. And YES, the networking is unprecedented!

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BHI is seeking a full time energetic and motivated individual with relevant marketing experience and an interest in growing with our organization to serve as our full time Marketing and Communications Coordinator. The Marketing and Communications Coordinator will perform a variety of duties that support the organization’s mission, including formulating and executing a strategic marketing plan for the organization that encompasses BHI’s goals for the next three years and providing ongoing marketing collateral creation and marketing administrative support.

Click here for more information.

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Qiagen NV shares jumped the most in 17 years after people with knowledge of the matter said Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is considering a takeover of the molecular testing firm.

Thermo Fisher has approached the Dutch company about a potential purchase that could become one of its biggest-ever acquisitions, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of Qiagen rose 13% to 33.20 euros at 1:10 p.m. in Frankfurt, giving it a market value of $8.3 billion.

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Virginia Tech is coming to Children’s National Hospital’s new campus at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The partnership will bring a 12,000-square-foot biomedical research complex to the 12-acre Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, slated to deliver in December 2020 as part of the project’s first phase. In the university’s first D.C. location, Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion will establish a D.C. team to work with Children’s National on translational research projects, faculty recruiting, intellectual property work and commercialization, and trainings for students and fellows — all focused on pediatric cancers of the brain and nervous system.

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Earlier this year we reported on the First of Its Kind Apprenticeship Program at GSK’s Rockville, Maryland Site. We are happy to provide an update on that story with news that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has expanded their apprenticeship program to now include Biopharmaceutical Associates.

GSK is an industry-leading pharmaceutical, consumer products and healthcare company and is known for taking a future-oriented approach to their talent strategies. The Validation Technician Apprenticeship was the first of its kind in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. They have also begun to explore Virtual Reality training as a model that can be used to speed up employee development.

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is in the news lately and for good reason. Diseases that were once easy to treat are becoming increasingly difficult to cure. But the largest contributor to AMR is a disease that rarely makes headlines – drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), the world’s only airborne drug-resistant infection. DR-TB makes up a third of the world’s burden of AMR and in 2017, there were more than half a million cases of DR-TB globally [1] – including some right here in the District of Columbia. It is estimated that two-thirds of individuals with DR-TB do not even know they are infected [2], posing a threat to their own health and to global health security.

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Newswise — If the saying that two heads are better than one is true, then joining two fields of science may be better than one to spur more advances in medicine. With a $6.7 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers will bring together immunologists, oncologists and biomedical engineers in an effort to build new tools to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

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One company gets absorbed into a larger brand and a host of companies flower as a result. The Biohealth Capital Region’s (BHCR) cycle of creative destruction has continued with Harpoon Medical. This was the story shared at the TEDCO Entrepreneur Expo’s session titled, “Success Breeds Success.”

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Leeds, UK, 14 November 2019: LUNAC Therapeutics (LUNAC), a UK based drug discovery company focused on the identification and development of advanced anticoagulants with minimal bleeding risk, today announced it has spun out of the University of Leeds with £2.65M funding in the first close of a Series A financing round. The investment is being led by Epidarex Capital and the University of Leeds. The Company was founded based on IP generated by Prof Helen Philippou and Dr Richard Foster, through unique insights built on a decade of academic research into Factor XII which has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council.

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Johns Hopkins University has become the first university in the world to partner with Innovation for Defense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Innovation Hub’s new initiative. Also called I4D, the Norfolk, Virginia–based center aims to bring together a variety of partners to design solutions to challenges the organization faces.

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November 14, 2019, Baltimore, MD – Rasio Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel medicines using cutting-edge computer-aided drug design technology, today announced the appointment of Todd Chappell, a veteran medtech and pharmaceutical industry executive, as the company’s CEO.

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Join the world’s largest multi-sector technology commercialization program. The Innovation Showcase offers a unique and vetted pipeline for corporate, federal and VC prospectors to discover and connect with emerging technologies.

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ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Empire State Development (ESD) announced the 10 companies selected to take part in the Round III of New York State’s Luminate NY accelerator competition in Rochester. The finalists selected include optics, photonics and imaging startups which were selected after pitching their innovative ideas to an advisory panel comprised of industry experts during the Lightning Awards at the Strong National Museum of Play on Nov. 7. Each company will receive an initial investment of $100,000 and will be a part of Luminate’s third cohort, which will begin in January 2020 at the Sibley Building in downtown Rochester. The six-month program will help the selected companies speed the commercialization of their technologies and business. In June, the teams will compete during Demo Day for $2 million in follow-on funding. Funding for the $25 million program is being provided through the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative award and is being administered by NextCorps.

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