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BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives

313th Edition – July 24, 2018

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BioHealth Innovation


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July 24, 2018



Gaithersburg biotech company raises $36 million – Maryland Daily Record

Gaithersburg biotech startup Neuraly has raised $36 million for its potential Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease treatment, the company announced.

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7/27 Deadline to Apply: First Coast Innovation Challenge

For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation (LSN) will have two days of competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). Day 1 will feature the First Coast Innovation Challenge, where the top 10 ranked companies of the First Coast tech hubs will present their technologies as a 10-minute pitch to a panel of early-stage investors. Day 2 features the traditional RESI Innovation Challenge, where the top 30 companies who apply are chosen to showcase a poster on the RESI Global Partnering Conference Exhibit Hall. First Coast Innovation Challenge is geared toward companies which have recently moved out of the lab and are ready to target grant, angel, and seed funding. The First Coast Innovation Challenge on Day 1 complements the RESI Global Innovation Challenge on Day 2, offering greater investor exposure to companies from the earliest stage to more established startups that are looking globally and seeking funding from institutional investors.

Apply by this Friday, July 27th to participate in First Coast Innovation Challenge.

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RESI/Life Science Nation to Host Inaugural “First Coast Innovator’s Gathering” – September 5th

RESI/Life Science Nation are hosting a day of partnering and networking at RESI/Life Science Nation’s inaugural First Coast Innovators Gathering. Biohealth incubators, accelerators, tech transfer offices, and research labs from the East Coast can promote their organizations and spinout companies to RESI’s audience investors and partners seeking to connect with the region’s earliest stage companies. Participating organizations also are able to offer their companies discounted attendance to day one. For more information, click here.

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Office Space Available for BioHealth Start-ups – Montgomery County

Due to company graduations, space co-working and individual office space is becoming available at the Montgomery County innovation centers located in Rockville and Germantown. Each location offer shared meeting space and kitchenette/lunch room and affordable, flexible lease terms. Tenants in these facilities also have access to BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and professional staff for additional support. For more information, contact BHI.

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SBIR Advice Available to BioHealth Start-ups

Is your biohealth company located in Maryland, DC or Virginia? Are you thinking of applying for a biohealth related SBIR grant? Does your technology qualify? Are you eligible? Should you apply to NIH? NSF? to other organizations? Sign up now to learn more from one of BHI’s SBIR consultants. (There is no fee for this service. Depending upon your technology and stage in the business cycle, BHI may also prepay for experts to help you improve your SBIR and other non-dilutive funding applications. For more information, click here.)

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Armed with $36M A round, Johns Hopkins spinout Neuraly heads to PhI Parkinson’s trial – Endpoints News

A startup company spun out of Johns Hopkins says it’s been able to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in mice models — and with a fresh infusion of cash, the company is taking the program into human trials.

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Montgomery County’s Silver Spring Innovation Center will be run by private operator – Technical.ly DC

Montgomery County is turning over management of the Silver Spring Innovation Center to the recently-launched coworking division of a Maryland-based real estate company.

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The Power of Diversity – MOCONNECT

“It will take another 30 years for America to catch up to Montgomery County’s diversity.” – The New York Times

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RESI Healthtech Week, September 5th thru 7th – BHI is a participant

The First Coast Innovator’s Gathering on Day 1 is focused on tech hubs and companies from the First Coast: DC, MD, PA, NJ, NY, RI, CT, and MA. We encourage all global tech hubs and their constituents to attend.

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FDA ‘priority’ approval for GSK malaria relapse drug

Following an advisory panel recommendation on July 6, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved, under Priority Review, single-dose Krintafel (tafenoquine) for the radical cure (prevention of relapse) of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax)malaria in patients aged 16 years and older who are receiving appropriate antimalarial therapy for acute P. vivax infection.

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GSK considers splitting up – PharmaTimes

GlaxoSmithKline is reportedly considering whether to split its business into a consumer health spin-off and standalone pharmaceutical and vaccines group.

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SilcsBio’s drug design algorithms get patent – Technical.ly Baltimore

Algorithms used in a Spark Baltimore–based company’s software was recently patented for algorithms that will help it expand its presence in the market, according to its CEO.

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Senator Tim Kaine visits Vibrent Health in Fairfax for town hall discussion on digital health technology

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) today visited Vibrent Health, a Fairfax, Virginia-based health technology company for a tour of the company’s new office followed by a town hall session with Vibrent’s 140 employees.

“Studying and developing new technologies is critical to improving our health care system and expanding access to more Virginians. I’m looking forward to learning more about the work Vibrent Health is doing to modernize the industry as well as hearing from their employees on how the Senate can better support innovation in the health care space,” said Kaine.

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Tenable seeks to raise $166M in IPO – Technical.ly Baltimore

With Tenable formally filing to go public in late June, observers are closely watching for updates to its Form S-1, which is required to be filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of an IPO.

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Biopharma 1H18 Series A investment exceeds funding for all of 2017 – MedCity News

Venture capital investment in early-stage biotechnology and pharmaceutical startups is seeing exuberance that could be classed as “froth,” but it does not appear to be in bubble territory yet.

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US venture capital activity so far this year in 15 charts | PitchBook

There’s been more venture capital invested through the first six months of 2018 in the US than any six-month period in recent history, which highlights the new normal in the industry: more capital concentrated into fewer, larger deals. On the exit end of the spectrum, there’s been improved access to the IPO market, particularly for enterprise tech companies.

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Bill Gates and others launch $30M ‘venture philanthropy’ accelerator for Alzheimer’s diagnostics | FierceBiotech

High-profile investors led by billionaires Bill Gates and Leonard Lauder are throwing their weight behind a “venture philanthropy vehicle” offering more than $30 million in grants for new biomarkers and early diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Trump’s Drug Plan Picks Up Momentum as Merck Lowers Some Prices – Bloomberg

The Trump administration moved swiftly in the past 24 hours to implement pieces of its plan to bring down drug prices, preparing several significant steps as one of the biggest U.S. drugmakers said it would bring down the cost of some medicines.

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Johnson & Johnson launches life sciences incubator for Philadelphia area – MedCity News

The University of Pennsylvania’s startup incubator is getting a boost from a big pharmaceutical company.

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Biotech incubator to set up shop in NYC – New York Business Journal

IndieBio is making its way to New York.

The San Francisco-based biotech incubator received a $25 million investment from the state’s government. The move is part of a broader push to support life sciences startups across New York State (h/t The Wall Street Journal).

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312th Edition – July 17, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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July 17, 2018



Local Biotech Firms Can Soon Apply for County Grants – Bethesda Beat – Bethesda, MD

Small biotech companies on Monday can start applying for matching grants from Montgomery County through a new program.

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Could printable lungs solve transplant shortage? – Genetic Literacy Project

Recently I had the chance to hold a replica of the upper part of a human airway—the windpipe plus the first two bronchi. It had been made from collagen, the biological cement that holds our bodies together. It was slippery and hollow, with the consistency of undercooked pasta.

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MedImmune and 4D Molecular Therapeutics Collaborate on AAV Gene Therapy for Lung Disease | BioSpace

AstraZeneca’s MedImmune and 4D Molecular Therapeutics forged a collaboration to develop a gene therapy for chronic lung disease.

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Montgomery County Launches New Matching Grant Program to Help Grow Biotechnology Sector

Montgomery County companies may soon apply online for the County’s new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Matching Grant Program. Applications will be accepted beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 16.

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MaxCyte Receives US FDA Investigational New Drug Clearance for First Clinical Program

MaxCyte announced that it has received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin a clinical study in the United States with its first wholly-owned chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapeutic candidate, MCY-M11.

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Altimmune Appoints Mitchel Sayare as Executive Chairman of the Board, and Adds José Ochoa to Its Leadership Team as Chief Business Officer – NASDAQ.com

Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq:ALT), a clinical-stage immunotherapeutics company focused on infectious disease, today announced it has appointed Mitchel Sayare, Ph.D., as Executive Chairman of the Board, effective immediately.

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Baltimore biotech Elixirgen Therapeutics making drugs to target rare diseases, raises $4 million – Baltimore Business Journal

A Baltimore biotechnology company has raised $4 million, to help bring its therapeutic treatment targeting rare genetic diseases closer to market.

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Clear Guide Medical gets $2M grant to develop tools for pediatrics – Technical.ly Baltimore

Johns Hopkins spinout Clear Guide Medical received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to apply its imaging tools to pediatrics.

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WellDoc® Presents Results of an Innovative Economic Analysis Demonstrating Opportunity for Significant Healthcare Cost Savings with the Use of BlueStar® – WellDoc Inc

WellDoc®, a leading digital health company revolutionizing chronic disease management to help transform lives through the use of its digital therapeutics, today announced results from an innovative economic analysis that demonstrated the potential for significant healthcare cost savings with the use of BlueStar®. BlueStar is powered by WellDoc and is a 510K-cleared digital therapeutic designed to coach adults with type 2 diabetes.

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True Bearing Diagnostics Inc. raising millions to catch heart attacks before they strike – Washington Business Journal

True Bearing Diagnostics Inc. is working to commercialize an early-detection test for coronary artery disease, a possible game-changer for the health care industry.

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Future Growth of €Genomics Market€ by Global Industry Top 10 Players in The Globe with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Qiagen, Eurofins Scientific, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and More Till 2025 – openPR

The Worldwide Genomics Market report is an expert analysis report explore the market by Size, Share and Forecasts Till 2025. The Global Genomics Market size was estimated at USD 12.02 billion in 2016. It is anticipated to progress at a CAGR of 9.7% over the forecast period. Widening base of genomic data pool from genomic research activities is enabling physicians, biologists, and patients to further investigate genetic predisposition to certain diseases.

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Johns Hopkins bioethics institute gets $15 million gift – Baltimore Business Journal

The chairman of Johns Hopkins University’s Berman Institute of Bioethics has made a $15 million gift to establish a new endowment and support studying bioethicists.

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PowerTen: Spend 10 Minutes with Baltimore’s Most Dynamic Innovation Leaders

Thursday, July 19, 20184:30 – 7:00 PM EST

Spend an inspiring 10 minute ‘ideastorming’ session with the Anchor Ventures PowerTen, the most influential innovation leaders in the greater Baltimore area – build on an idea for your company, bring your ideas for a program topic, a product, a system improvement or a better way to grow our ecosystem. Complete the RSVP link with your idea and we’ll match you to our PowerTen. Then mingle with more than 150 local entrepreneurs at our networking happy hour.

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Summer Healthcare/Life Science Pitch Event: Sponsored by SoPE, CAAG and NIH

The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs and the MBA Collaborative Alumni Angel Group, in conjunction with NIH, cordially invite you to join us for our next meeting:

Summer Healthcare/Life Science Pitch Event

July 24th 2018 5 PM-8 PM

This program will be focused on start-up and emerging biotech, pharmaceutical, Health IT, and healthcare companies. Referrals are coming from NIH officials and consultants as well as SoPE/CAAG members and affiliates.

Call for Start-Ups; Please submit your Executive Summary and non-proprietary Slide deck to jhausfeld@sopenet.org for consideration to pitch at this upcoming event.

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Amount of venture capital raised by Maryland companies increases 142 percent in 2Q – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland companies raised $247 million in venture capital funding in the second quarter, the sixth consecutive quarter the state has raised at least $100 million.

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Let’s Talk Tech – #MoCo365

Want to hear more about cybersecurity and technology in Montgomery County? Check out the personal stories from our most innovative business leaders and entrepreneurs in the fields of IT, BioHealth, life sciences, and more.

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Greater Washington VC drops in second quarter, PitchBook says – Washington Business Journal

Venture funding for Greater Washington companies fell nearly 50 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, but the region’s take for the first half of the year remains above last year.

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Restore the patent system and cut the red tape strangling federal labs

The National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a request for information seeking ideas for improving the public’s return on investment from federally supported R&D. Here’s my submission.

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Gates Foundation’s $100M-a-year nonprofit biotech takes flight – FierceBiotech

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has held a coming-out party for its nonprofit biotech startup. Equipped with plans to build a 120-person team and spend $100 million a year, the Gates Medical Research Institute (MRI) will turn drug industry expertise and processes on intractable diseases that kill millions of people annually in low- and middle-income countries.

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An IPO drought? Why Greater Washington punches below its weight on Wall Street debuts – Washington Business Journal

The region has only seen one real initial public offering since the beginning of 2017.

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As Amazon’s acquisition of PillPack sends shockwaves across the pharma industry, GlobalData publish their Top 25 Global Pharmaceutical Companies analysis by Market Cap | GlobalData Plc

The prospect of Amazon entering the pharma industry with the acquisition of PillPack will be a troubling development for pharma executives around the globe.

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Can you find the hidden letter in this brainteaser? – Business Insider

This recently re-surfaced brainteaser has been making the rounds on the internet again. Apparently, reported Sharesplosion, if you can find the “C’ that’s hidden somewhere among the rows and rows of “Os” in under seven seconds, you’re a genius (they claim that 99% of adults can’t achieve this feat).

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Expands Its First-in-Class New York City Regional Life Science Cluster Franchise with the Strategic Acquisition of 219 East 42nd Street in Manhattan, Subject to a Leaseback | STL.News

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced it has acquired 219 East 42nd Street for $203 million on a fee simple basis, through a membership interest in the purchasing entity 219/235 East LLC. As part of the transaction, 219/235 East LLC leased back 219 East 42nd Street on a triple net basis to Pfizer Inc., which announced earlier this year plans to relocate its global office headquarters to Manhattan’s Hudson Yards neighborhood in 2022. Ideally located in the heart of Manhattan’s East Side Medical Corridor with critical adjacency to New York City’s renowned academic and medical institutions, the acquisition of this approximately 350,000 RSF, 10-story office building represents significant and immediate net operating income growth with a strong yield from an investment-grade tenant.

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Executive Compensation at Private and Public Colleges – The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle‘s executive-compensation package includes the latest data on more than 1,400 chief executives at more than 600 private colleges from 2008-15 and nearly 250 public universities and systems from 2010-17. Hover over bars to show total compensation as well as pay components including base, bonus, and other.

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Copyright © BioHealth Innovation 2017
All Rights Reserved.



311th Edition – July 10, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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July 10, 2018



miRecule Inc. is raising $1 million to stop cancer tumors in their tracks – Washington Business Journal

This seed round will send the startup into the next phase of its journey toward clinical trials.

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Rip Ballou, MD, VP & Head, GSK Global Vaccines US R&D Center, joins host Rich Bendis on a new episode of BioTalk

In this new episode of BioTalk, Rip Ballou, MD, VP & Head, GSK Global Vaccines US R&D Center and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss GSK’s move to the BioHealth Capital Region, their Vaccines Portfolio/Future, and the importance of succeeding in the industry today.

W. Ripley Ballou, MD is Vice President and Head, GSK Global Vaccines U.S. R&D Center in Rockville, MD – Just outside of Washington, DC. Prior to this he was VP and Head, Clinical Research and Translational Science, Vaccine Discovery and Development at GSK Vaccines in Rixensart, Belgium. Previously he served as Deputy Director for Vaccines, Infectious Diseases Development, Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Ballou is an expert in vaccine development and has worked in this field for more than 30 years. Trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, he began his work on vaccines at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research where he led the team that with GlaxoSmithKline co-developed RTS,S, the world’s most advanced malaria vaccine. Dr. Ballou has numerous publications in the field of vaccine development and infectious diseases.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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Aaron Chang, Renalert CEO – Engineering a Global Paradigm Shift to Prevent Acute Kidney Injury · BioBuzz

Every entrepreneur has a “founder’s story” that serves to build the unique framework for why they are just the right person to solve a specific problem. For Aaron Chang, CEO of Renalert, that story began at Johns Hopkins University in the Masters of Bioengineering Innovation and Design program.

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AgriTech Accelerator at Farm Progress Show

Attending the Farm Progress Show at Boone, Iowa, this year? Add the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator to your list of exhibitors to visit.

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WellDoc®’s BlueStar® Now Available for Hypertension and Weight Management – WellDoc Inc

WellDoc®, a leading digital health company, today announces hypertension and weight management solutions integrated within its digital therapeutic app for type 2 diabetes, BlueStar®. Later this year, WellDoc will launch its stand-alone product for individuals living with hypertension (high blood pressure) and stand-alone products are also in development for multiple chronic diseases.

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Why A Spin-off Is A Win-Win For Big Pharma And Startups

When Viela Bio spun out of MedImmune in March, it started with six assets — three in clinical trials and three in preclinical development — putting it ahead of most startups and many spin-offs. “Other spin-offs often are developing assets that have been shelved for various reasons or that have been deprioritized,” Bing Yao, Ph.D., CEO, notes. “But for Viela Bio, this is a continuation of the programs, not a handoff.”

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Biobuzz Directory – 3 Biotech Startups Among Recipients of TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) $5.6 Million Funding

TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced its recent investments through the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII). With the latest round of funding, MII’s funding count for FY18 includes 38 technology assessment grants and seven start-up investments for a total of $5.56 million. True to its technology agnostic funding history, this year the startups ranged from medical devices to aeronautics and the sports industry.

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CosmosID is the top performer in Janssen’s Mosaic Strain Challenge and precisionFDA’s CFSAN Pathogen Detection Challenge — CosmosID

CosmosID a bioinformatics provider and NGS service laboratory announced that the company’s cloud-based bioinformatics platform for microbiome analysis has received the highest score in the strain-level microbial profiling category of the Mosaic Community Challenge and for strain-level microbial identification in the precisionFDA Pathogen Detection Challenge.

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gel-e expands its OTC label

gel-e Inc., announces the 510(k) clearance of gel-e FLEX by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the over-the-counter (OTC) use of its first flowable hemostat.

This new clearance expands the Company’s label that now includes the use of gels and bandages in the local management of bleeding, such as lacerations and minor bleeding. These products are specifically designed to create rapid hemostasis through easy-to-use applications for professional healthcare providers, parents, coaches, adult caregivers and even patients themselves. gel-e FLEX also complements the Company’s already FDA cleared vascular closure device, Vascular gel-e®, as it can be worn home by patients to manage any residual bleeding from an out-patient diagnostic or interventional procedure, see http://www.gel-e.co/products.html.

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Gemstone Biotherapeutics receives $225K from ‘America’s Seed Fund’ – Technical.ly Baltimore

With federal funding, Gemstone Biotherapeutics is eying development of the next generation of its wound-healing technology.

The Federal Hill startup is developing treatments that enable skin regeneration without scars.

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Four steps to building an innovation culture in pharma – Pharmaphorum

The quest for innovation is a major driving force in pharma. From the discovery of therapeutic biologicals in the 1920s, such as Salvarsan and insulin, to the blockbuster drugs birthed in the 1990s, such as Lipitor and Humira, pharma has always been on a quest for novel, groundbreaking drug development.

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Israel’s Teva to move US HQ from Pennsylvania to New Jersey | The Times of Israel

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the troubled Israeli manufacturer of generic drugs, will be moving its US headquarters from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, lured by 10-year, $40 million tax incentive plan.

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Copyright © BioHealth Innovation 2017
All Rights Reserved.



310th Edition – July 3, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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July 3, 2018



Rip Ballou, MD, VP & Head, GSK Global Vaccines US R&D Center, joins host Rich Bendis on a new episode of BioTalk

In this new episode of BioTalk, Rip Ballou, MD, VP & Head, GSK Global Vaccines US R&D Center and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss GSK’s move to the BioHealth Capital Region, their Vaccines Portfolio/Future, and the importance of succeeding in the industry today.

W. Ripley Ballou, MD is Vice President and Head, GSK Global Vaccines U.S. R&D Center in Rockville, MD – Just outside of Washington, DC. Prior to this he was VP and Head, Clinical Research and Translational Science, Vaccine Discovery and Development at GSK Vaccines in Rixensart, Belgium. Previously he served as Deputy Director for Vaccines, Infectious Diseases Development, Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Ballou is an expert in vaccine development and has worked in this field for more than 30 years. Trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, he began his work on vaccines at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research where he led the team that with GlaxoSmithKline co-developed RTS,S, the world’s most advanced malaria vaccine. Dr. Ballou has numerous publications in the field of vaccine development and infectious diseases.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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Senseonics Announces Public Offering of Common Stock – Business Wire

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of Eversense®, a long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today announced that it has commenced a registered underwritten public offering of $80 million of its shares of common stock. In addition, Senseonics has granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $12 million of its shares of common stock. All of the shares to be sold in the offering are to be sold by Senseonics.

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QIAGEN announces broadening of GeneReader NGS System applications into hereditary disease analysis | Business Wire

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today introduced seamless next-generation sequencing (NGS) solutions for a wide range of hereditary diseases on the GeneReader NGS System, the complete Sample to Insight NGS solution for any lab worldwide.

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DC area is home to 2 of the nation’s best children’s hospitals | WTOP

Hospitals in D.C. and Baltimore rank among the best in the nation, according to a new list released by U.S. News & World Report.

Overall, Children’s National Medical Center in D.C. ranked No. 5 and John’s Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore ranked No. 8 on the “honor roll,” which lists the best-performing children’s hospitals across 10 pediatric specialties including neonatal care, neurology, cancer and cardiology.

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gel-e expands its OTC label

gel-e Inc., announces the 510(k) clearance of gel-e FLEX by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the over-the-counter (OTC) use of its first flowable hemostat.

This new clearance expands the Company’s label that now includes the use of gels and bandages in the local management of bleeding, such as lacerations and minor bleeding. These products are specifically designed to create rapid hemostasis through easy-to-use applications for professional healthcare providers, parents, coaches, adult caregivers and even patients themselves. gel-e FLEX also complements the Company’s already FDA cleared vascular closure device, Vascular gel-e®, as it can be worn home by patients to manage any residual bleeding from an out-patient diagnostic or interventional procedure, see http://www.gel-e.co/products.html.

Read More




Rockville Employers Rank High On ‘Top Workplace For 2018’ List | Rockville, MD Patch

Two Rockville employers are among the top workplaces in the region, according to The Washington Post’s newest ranking.

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Campus Director Leslie Weber Inducted As Chair of Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce – News – Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus

Leslie Weber was inducted in June as chair of the board of directors of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. Weber is director of the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus and director of government and community affairs for Johns Hopkins in Montgomery County. She long has been involved with the Chamber: She has held leadership positions on the board and received the Chairman’s Award in 2016.

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Greater Baltimore’s top NIH grant recipients include Johns Hopkins, Kennedy Krieger – Baltimore Business Journal

Johns Hopkins University is again the top NIH grant recipient in Greater Baltimore in 2017, with a total grant value of $651.8 million last year.

The university also led all U.S. universities in research and development expenditures for the 38th consecutive year in fiscal year 2016, spending $2.4 billion on various research projects.

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Mtech is hiring! – Specialist (Temporary), Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program, University of Maryland

The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks an organized, energetic person to assist with operational functions and related activities for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program in the Honors College.

This nationally award-winning program helps to develop the entrepreneurial mindsets, skill sets and resources for first and second-year students.

The position-holder would provide coordination and support for

program operations and administration courses and curriculum student activities and engagement marketing and recruiting development and grants

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CosmosID is the top performer in Janssen’s Mosaic Strain Challenge and precisionFDA’s CFSAN Pathogen Detection Challenge — CosmosID

CosmosID a bioinformatics provider and NGS service laboratory announced that the company’s cloud-based bioinformatics platform for microbiome analysis has received the highest score in the strain-level microbial profiling category of the Mosaic Community Challenge and for strain-level microbial identification in the precisionFDA Pathogen Detection Challenge.

Read More




Health Tech Early Stage Funding Snapshot – Inova Personalized Health Accelerator

There is limited data available on Health Tech investing in general and even less related to early stage investing in the sector. IPHA set out to fill that gap by analyzing quarterly health tech investing data between 2010 through Q1 2018. We track both total investment dollars and deals completed over the period with additional analysis of the five quarters leading up to March 31, 2018. There is an unmistakeable trend reversal that started in Q1 2017 that is significant for both health tech entrepreneurs and investors.

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Lupin partners with Mylan for Enbrel Biosimilar

Lupin has announced that it has partnered with Mylan to commercialize Enbrel (Etanercept) biosimilar. Under the terms of the agreement, Lupin will receive an up-front payment of $15mn and potential commercial milestones together with an equal share in net profits of the product. Mylan will commercialize Lupin’s Etanercept biosimilar in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Africa and most markets throughout Asia.

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Where do AI and oncology converge? – MedCity News

Though we’re nowhere near machines taking over, artificial intelligence has a plethora of applications in healthcare. The oncology space is no exception.

The intersection of artificial intelligence and cancer care is up for discussion at the forthcoming MedCity CONVERGE conference in Philadelphia on July 11-12.

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The top 5 highest-paid women biopharma executives in 2017 | FiercePharma

Women and men almost equally shared all positions in the life sciences world, but women are not advancing in their biopharma careers at the same pace as men, according to a recent report by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and recruiting firm Liftstream. The wide gender gap higher up, though improved in recent years, persists: Women only hold a quarter of all C-suite level jobs, and less than 15% joined the board of directors.

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GE Healthcare to become standalone business – MedCity News

Changes are afoot at GE. The company will separate GE Healthcare into a standalone company.

Kieran Murphy, the president and CEO of GE Healthcare, will continue at the helm of the business, which offers medical imaging, biomanufacturing and data analytics capabilities, among other services.

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Penn invests $50 million in biotech in a bold bid to build Philly’s innovation cluster

Without fanfare, the University of Pennsylvania has agreed to invest up to $50 million over the next three years in at least 10 biotech companies, the Inquirer has learned.

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NYC biotech incubators begin welcoming tenants | am New York

The city has begun testing its hypothesis that real estate costs and other hurdles stood in the way of a booming life science sector by supporting three biotech incubators.

Two of the incubators, which offer young companies an affordable workspace, lab equipment and networking opportunities, have started welcoming tenants. But data on the strategy’s success has been sparse.

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The Five Biggest Startup Opportunities In Agtech Today

Venture investors poured more than $1 billion into agtech last year, and we are on pace to match or exceed that this year. The convergence of AI, cloud computing, big data and gene editing, with applications from soil to plants, foods to medicines, farm to table are driving investments. Discerning startups and investors will capitalize from the market’s current, numerous opportunities.

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Philadelphia-based Carisma Therapeutics closes $53 million venture capital financing – Philadelphia Business Journal

Carisma Therapeutics, formerly Carma Therapeutics, is working on a new onco-immunotherapy approach for treating cancer patients with solid tumors.

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Copyright © BioHealth Innovation 2017
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309th Edition – June 26, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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June 26, 2018



AI based anti-phishing company Inky, based in Rockville Innovation Center, receives $5.6 Million from ClearSky Security, Blackstone and Gula Tech Adventures

Inky receives series A funding to enhance analytics capabilities of the software and expand sales and marketing.

Inky Technology Corporation, the leading email security company based in Rockville, Maryland, announces today that ClearSky Security led the Series A round to invest $5.6 million to enhance analytics capabilities of the software and expand sales and marketing. Gula Tech Adventures also participated in the round, and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) has joined as a strategic investor. ClearSky Security Managing Director Peter Kuper has joined CEO/founder Dave Baggett, co-founder Simon Smith, and The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) CIO Chris Hjelm on the company’s board of directors.

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A look at the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator 2018 class – Clay & Milk

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator recently announced the five AgTech startups selected for the program’s class of 2018.

Based in Des Moines, the accelerator is a mentor-led program that focuses on ag-based technology innovations. This year’s class is the second to go through the 100-day program.

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How CEO Martine Rothblatt Turns Moonshots Into Earthshots

From cofounding Sirius Satellite Radio to launching a biotech company to find a cure for her daughter’s illness, Martine Rothblatt has had so much career success that any one of her accomplishments would be a crowning achievement for another entrepreneur. “I always try to convert a moonshot into an earthshot,” Rothblatt told hundreds at the Forbes Women’s Summit on Tuesday.

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First phage therapy center in the U.S. signals growing acceptance

When her husband was dying of a drug-resistant infection, Steffanie Strathdee had a last-ditch idea. They could try treating him with a virus that would kill the bacteria colonizing his insides. The method, called phage therapy, was popular in former Soviet republics, but had mostly been abandoned in the U.S. Researchers had to hunt for the right virus in Texas pigsties and sewage treatment plants.

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Superbug killers find a home at UC San Diego – The San Diego Union-Tribune

What started with a wife’s stubborn refusal to give up on her husband who lay dying of a superbug infection has become a whole new research initiative at UC San Diego.

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Silence Therapeutics strengthens Board and leadership team – PharmaTimes

Silence Therapeutics has appointed Dave Lemus to its Board as non-executive director and Richard Jenkins as head of clinical development. Dave has over 20 years of US and international business experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, having served in executive management and non-executive board roles in multiple US and European private and publicly-traded companies. He is currently executive vice chair, chief operating officer and CFO of Proteros biostructures. He also currently serves as a non-executive board member of BioHealth Innovation, Sorrento Therapeutics, and the MIT Club of Washington DC.

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Marriott International Breaks Ground for New Headquarters in Downtown Bethesda – Bethesda Beat – Bethesda, MD

Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, on Thursday broke ground on the $600 million project to build a headquarters in downtown Bethesda.

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CASI Pharmaceuticals Enters Strategic Partnering And Contract Manufacturing Agreement With Yiling

CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASI), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and delivery of high quality, cost-effective pharmaceutical products and innovative therapeutics to patients in the U.S., China and throughout the world, announces a strategic and long-term manufacturing agreement with Yiling Wanzhou International Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the manufacturing of entecavir and cilostazol. Yiling Wanzhou International Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The contracted manufacturing facilities have been inspected by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and China FDA (CFDA) and operate to strict International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, which will enable CASI to eventually sell both entecavir and cilostazol in the U.S., China and worldwide markets. Entecavir and cilostazol are part of the 29 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) that CASI acquired from Sandoz in January 2018.

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GS-15 Vacancy Announcement: Director, NCI Technology Transfer Center

An exciting job opportunity is available to work in the Technology Transfer Center (TTC), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS).

If you have experience providing leadership and direction on all matters related to the development & management of technology transfer and patenting and licensing then consider becoming a Supervisory Technology Transfer & Patent Specialist at the NCI!

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University of Maryland grad advances medical alert system startup Symbiont Health with new tech – Washington Business Journal

There have been many a product over the years aimed at getting help to seniors who suffered a fall. But when Erich Meissner’s grandmother had a fall of her own, her device didn’t work for her — because she wasn’t wearing it, a problem the University of Maryland alum found to be widespread.

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Galen Robotics is 3rd JHTV-affiliated company to win the Crab Trap Pitch Competition – JHTV

April’s 2018 BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap, an annual pitch competition, featured five Maryland-area startups vying for its $10,000 award.

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Medical Innovators Draw Chinese Funds – Private Equity News

Fledgling biotechs and medical-technology startups in the U.S. and Europe have found a new source of funding for their costly research: China.

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Turning A Phage – YouTube

Joel Grimwood needed a new heart, but a chronic bacterial infection lurking within his implanted ventricle assist device made getting one impossible. Five transplant centers declined his case due to his persistent infection. Then Grimwood came to UC San Diego Health, where doctors treated the infection with an experimental bacteriophage therapy – viruses that eat bacteria. The infection cleared and Grimwood got his new heart.

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United Therapeutics CEO Explains Why Healthcare Is Overly Expensive – Observer

United Therapeutics CEO Martine Rothblatt may not sound like a familiar name to an average person, but in the healthcare industry, she is a living legend. Rothblatt was the second-highest paid female CEO in the U.S. in 2017—and the 19th highest paid overall. (She was the highest-paid female CEO in the U.S. in 2013.)

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The 2nd Annual Tech Showcase Reflects New Culture at NCI & FNLCR – BioBuzz

When you hear the term “government research” do the words “entrepreneur”, “start-up”, “commercially relevant” or “industry partner” come to mind?

For many, they would not. However, if you attended the Second Annual Technology Showcase last week hosted by NCI and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) those are the words that came up in each and every presentation. This event wasn’t your average government research poster session showcasing incredibly interesting, yet commercially irrelevant studies. This event was all about the commercially relevant technologies being developed at the NCI and FNLCR that have the potential to take to patients, and the success stories of those that already have.

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TEDCO has new funding and programming for underserved founders – Technical.ly Baltimore

TEDCO plans to provide funding and business-building programming to entrepreneurs from groups who are often overlooked by investors through a new fund that will begin this fall.

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Accenture Expands Innovation Hub in Metro Washington, D.C. with Launch of New Cyber Fusion Center | Business Wire

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has expanded its metro Washington, D.C. innovation hub with the opening today of a new flagship Cyber Fusion Center, located in Arlington’s Rosslyn business district, designed to help organizations apply new techniques and intelligent tools to defend against data breaches and cyberattacks.

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Science in the City: June 28, 2018 – UM BioPark

Host: UM BioPark & Wexford Science + Technology

Location: UM BioPark On the Nook Cafe Patio 801 W. Baltimore Street Baltimore Maryland 21201

Date: June 28, 2018, 5:00pm to 6:30pm

Mingle with BioPark tenants, our UM Ventures staff, UMB faculty and leaders in Baltimore’s technology community. On the Nook Patio, weather permitting.

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New ’Innovation Ecosystem’ Program at the National League of Cities Supports Local Entrepreneurs,

Today the National League of Cities (NLC) announced a new program, City Innovation Ecosystems, dedicated to helping cities thrive in the modern economy. The program marks a major new push by NLC to support regional entrepreneurship, innovation and STEM pathways in a time when too few cities are fully participating in the high-tech, global economy.

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Precision medicine: Where we are and where we’re going – MedCity News

We’re hearing more and more about precision medicine and how it can positively impact medicine. But what is preventing it from reaching its full potential, and how can everyone from hospitals to startups help scale it?

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The Greater Washington Partnership is teaming with universities to build a set of regional tech credentials – Washington Business Journal

The Greater Washington Partnership, an alliance of local CEOs, is launching a formal collaboration program with a swath of regional universities — part of an effort to spur the development of more tech-focused workers.

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EAGB names interim president, explores new leadership model – Technical.ly Baltimore

The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore named Bill Jones as its interim leader on Monday, and said it is exploring a new leadership structure.

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Funding healthcare accelerators, an HHS unit is taking a VC approach to innovation – MedCity News

The DRIVe (Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures) website looks like it belongs to a VC company rather than a federal agency – smart graphics and succinct descriptions. That’s not an accident. DRIVe is taking a venture approach to solving some intractable health issues.

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308th Edition – June 19, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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June 19, 2018



BIO 2018 Recap

Business partnering, education and networking was the focus of 3500 biohealth industry leaders who attended the BIO International Convention (BIO) Conference earlier this month in Boston.  At the event, BIO set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Largest Business Partnering Event with 41,400 partnering meetings.  Many of these meetings took place in the pavilion hosted by the Maryland Department of Commerce which included space for meetings BioHealth Innovation, Montgomery County Economic Development Corp (MCEDC), Rockville Economic Development (REDI), the City of Gaithersburg, Viva White Oak, PIC-MC (Montgomery College), University of Maryland Ventures, Johns Hopkins University, Fina BioSolutions, Integrated Pharma Services,  Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Emergent BioSolutions, AsclepiX, and US FDA’s Tech Transfer Office.  Others from the BioHealth Capital Region who attended included:  ABL, American Gene Technologies, AstraZeneca / MedImmune, Altimmune, BioMarker Strategies, Bytegrid, Children’s National Health, CRBE, Creatv Microtech, GlycoMimetics, IDT Biologica, Immunomics, Intrexon, Leidos Health, MacroGenics, Maryland Tech Council, MaxCyte, Newport Board Group, Novodux Paragon Bioservices, REGENXBIO, MacroGenics, Neuronascent, Scheer Partners, Smithers Avanza, TEDCO, the University of Maryland Baltimore, and the University of Maryland’s Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research.

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Gaithersburg Ranks Among Top 10 Best Cities For STEM Workers | Gaithersburg, MD Patch

Based on data collected by Livability.com, a website that explores what makes small-to-medium sized cities ideal places to live, the City of Gaithersburg ranked in the top 10 of a 2018 listing of Best Cities for STEM Workers, coming in at #6. The site analyzed data from 2,000 cities and towns across the country, looking at such factors as share of total jobs that fall into the STEM category, the median income for those jobs, and the median income for STEM jobs in relation to overall median income within each city. Number one on the list was Huntsville, Alabama.

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Neuralstem Awarded Phase I SBIR Contract to Support Research into Neural Stem Cell Therapy for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Nasdaq:CUR

Neuralstem, Inc. (Nasdaq:CUR), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for nervous system diseases, today announced that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the Department of Defense (DoD). The award of $150,000 will support the Company’s ongoing efforts to develop its NSI-566 human neural stem cell line as a candidate therapeutic for severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

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Johns Hopkins spinout LifeSprout raises $6.5 million – Technical.ly Baltimore

Johns Hopkins spinout LifeSprout recently closed on $6.5 million in funding as it looks to bring soft tissue replacement technology to market, according to CEO Sashank Reddy.

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How Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Inc. is saving lives with bacteria-killing viruses – Washington Business Journal

The Gaithersburg-based company is raising $5 million, ahead of a planned Series A round of at least $30 million in the first quarter of 2019, to bring a therapy for drug-resistant bacteria to market as soon as possible.

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Insilico Medicine receives strategic investment from Chinese biotech firm – Technical.ly Baltimore

Baltimore-based Insilico Medicine landed a new strategic investment from Chinese biotech company WuXi AppTec.

The amount of the funding was not disclosed, but the investment also includes a strategic partnership between Insilico and WuXi, which specializes in contract research for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

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United Therapeutics (UTHR) Announces Collaboration with XVIVO Perfusion to Reduce Organ Shortage

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) and XVIVO Perfusion, Inc., a subsidiary of XVIVO Perfusion AB (STO: XVIVO), today announced that the use of XVIVO’s ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) technology will be incorporated into the Silver Spring, Maryland laboratory of Lung Bioengineering Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics’ public benefit corporation subsidiary Lung Biotechnology PBC.

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TEDCO launching fund to serve the young startups venture capitalists often overlook – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland Technology Development Corp. is launching a new fund that will offer early stage investments of $50,000 to startups that may be overlooked by other funding organizations.

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Baltimore biotech WindMIL Therapeutics raises $32.5 million – Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore biotechnology firm WindMIL Therapeutics has raised a $32.5 million to support clinical trials and further development for new cancer therapies.

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Lockheed Martin Doubles Venture Capital Fund To $200 Million – Defense Daily Network

Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday said it has added another $100 million to its venture capital fund, doubling the firepower of Lockheed Martin Ventures for investments in early-stage companies that are developing advanced technologies.

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Eight startups join Maryland duo-backed accelerator · Articles · Global University Venturing

Eight US-based startups have been accepted onto the 2018 cohort of Trajectory Next, a second-stage accelerator run by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and incubator Betamore.

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July 12th Deadline to Apply – StartRight Business Plan Competition

The StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition was founded in 2004 by Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI) to encourage and support women’s entrepreneurship. Now run by the Maryland Women’s Business Center, an initiative of REDI, StartRight! awards prizes for winning business plans each year. The women who enter our competition receive more than the opportunity to win a top prize of $5,000; they also receive valuable coaching and feedback on their business plan!

Complete plans are due electronically by July 12th. For more information, click here.

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REGENXBIO Receives FDA Fast Track Designation for RGX-111 Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I | REGENXBIO Inc.

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for RGX-111. RGX-111 is a novel, one-time investigational treatment for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I), that is designed to deliver the human iduronidase (IDUA) gene directly to the central nervous system (CNS) using the NAV AAV9 vector.

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RoosterBio Inc. Becomes Industry Partner in NSF-Funded Public-Private Cell Manufacturing Technologies Initiative

RoosterBio Inc. has joined the new NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies, known as CMaT. The center, launched in 2017 with a $20 million investment from the National Science Foundation, aims to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases and other disorders by enabling scalable manufacturing and broad use of potentially curative therapies that utilize living cells – such as immune cells and stem cells – as “drugs.”

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REGENXBIO Receives $100 Million Accelerated License Payment Due to Acquisition of AveXis by Novartis | REGENXBIO Inc.

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced that it has received an accelerated license payment of $100 million under its license agreement (the License Agreement) with AveXis, Inc. (AveXis) for the development and commercialization of products to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), due to the acquisition of AveXis by Novartis AG (Novartis).

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Pigs into people: UW joins renewed effort to use animals as organ donors | Local News | host.madison.com

For half a century, doctors have said human organ transplants will someday be replaced by xenotransplantation, or putting animal organs into people.

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Alexandria LaunchLabs, the Premier Life Science Startup Platform, Strategically Located at the Alexandria Center for Life Science – NYC, Celebrates First Anniversary and Announces First Investments through the Alexandria Seed Capital Platform – GuruFocus.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, celebrated the first anniversary of Alexandria LaunchLabs®, which opened at the Alexandria Center® for Life Science – New York City in June 2017.

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NYC Better Brace Itself for Wave of Life Science Companies – Commercial Observer

The life science industry is growing rapidly around the country and New York City is poised for an explosion of new companies—but there isn’t enough real estate to accommodate them in Gotham, according to industry experts at the first-ever Life Sciences 2018 Real Estate Development Symposium on June 12.

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Biotech Task Force offers suggestions to reinvigorate life science industry, but warns, ‘there is no magic bullet’ – ROI-NJ

The state’s Biotechnology Task Force released a 44-page report of recommendations to the state that could help New Jersey reinvigorate its life sciences sector.

Many of the themes from the report echo comments from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual conference in Boston recently.

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Smart City Works DEMO DAY S18

Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 1:00 PM

Come meet our Spring Cohort of next generation technology ventures in: AR/ VR, Smart Parking, Intelligent Buildings, Mobile Wallet, Multi-modal Transport, Cyber Security, that are changing the way we design, build, and operate cities!

Paid Public Parking is available in the garage beneath the Virginia Tech Research Centre. Garage entrance is off 9th Street at the corner of Glebe Road.

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Rare Genomics Institute Announces Winners of BeHEARD (Helping Empower and Accelerate Research Discoveries) Rare Disease Challenge — Rare Genomics Institute

The Rare Genomics (RG) Institute is delighted to announce the winners of the 2017 BeHEARD (Helping Empower and Accelerate Research Discoveries) science challenge, a global competition that offers rare disease researchers, who traditionally have difficulty attracting funding, grants of the latest life science innovations and technologies. This unique crowdsourced biotechnology competition allows companies to contribute their technology to make a difference for the rare disease community.

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Top 10 Under 40 – The Lists – GEN

If indeed “innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower,” as Steve Jobs wrote in 2001, then this year’s Top 10 Under 40 are well on the way to becoming leaders in biopharma research and business.

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CRISPR Could Help Us Cure Diseases. It Could Also Cause Cancer.

You know already about the promise for CRISPR-Cas9 — it might revolutionize fields from medicine to agriculture.

It might also eventually cause tumors.

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Next Chapter For Biotech? Many Say ‘Convergence’ With Data Science | CommonHealth

So far, the digital revolution has mostly been a disappointment in health care. Doctors stare at their screens instead of us. Specialists and emergency rooms still don’t have all our records.

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Gates Foundation debuts nonprofit biotech firm at BIO – MedCity News

Biotechnology is one of the hottest areas in business and investing, so it might seem a bit counterintuitive that a new biotechnology firm just launched that won’t seek to make any profit. But the new nonprofit drugmaker seeks to do precisely that, in order to tackle some of the worst health crises in the developing world.

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Gottlieb at BIO: FDA developing processes around right-to-try law – MedCity News

Perhaps it was inevitable that with Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb speaking before an auditorium full of biotechnology executives, a particularly contentious topic would come up: the new right-to-try law.

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307th Edition – June 8, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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June 8, 2018



BioHealth in MoCo: Strength in Numbers (PDF)

Biotechnology and life sciences discoveries are deeply embedded in our DNA. MoCo is home to a thriving global hub, where life-saving innovations emerge every day. Our BioHealth clusters have more than 10,000 employees working in the private sector and an estimated 49,000 in federal government agencies along Montgomery County’s I-270 corridor, a lively and growing biohealth hotbed.

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Top 50 NIH-Funded Institutions of 2018 | The Lists | GEN

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests nearly $37.3 billion annually in medical research. More than 80% of the funding is awarded through nearly 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every U.S. state and around the world.

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Investment, Innovation and Job Creation in a Growing U.S. Bioscience Industry

The bioscience industry represents the unique confluence of key characteristics for societal and economic progress—extremely high levels of innovation that are saving and improving lives through advancements in biomedical, energy and advanced food and industrial technologies; and expanding a wide mix of employment opportunities with wages and incomes that support a high standard of living. The industry thinks big and is addressing a host of global grand challenges related to diagnosing, treating and curing disease; ensuring a safe, affordable and more sustainable food supply; and leveraging biotechnologies and sustainable approaches to develop biobased fuels, chemicals and other industrial products.

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Useful Stats: SBIR/STTR awards by Metro (2013-2017) – Maryland Ranked #3

Last week, SSTI examined the geography of “America’s Seed Fund,” the SBIR/STTR awards, on a state-by-state basis. A look at how the more than 25,500 awards were distributed at the regional level over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 yields additional insight. The metropolitan areas with the largest concentrations of SBIR/STTR awards include knowledge hubs with large universities and access to federal R&D, such as Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. Smaller regions with a large federal R&D presence, like Huntsville, Alabama, Santa Maria, California and Dayton, Ohio also rank highly.

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BHI Job Opportunity: Executive Administrator

This position reports to and works directly with the President & CEO and in close collaboration with the Director of Finance and Managing Director, Economic Development. The Executive Administrator also works closely with other staff members to ensure smooth operations and effective collaboration. As the representative of BioHealth Innovation, the Executive Administrator will provide administrative work in coordination with external leaders, constituents and board members.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to jobs@biohealthinnovation.org.

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GlycoMimetics prices $119m public offering – MassDevice

GlycoMimetics (NSDQ:GLYC) priced an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock at $17.00 apiece today, reporting that it expects to bring in $119 million from the offering.

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Emergent BioSolutions Announces $50 Million Expansion of Baltimore Fill/Finish Facility NYSE:EBS

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the beginning of a $50 million expansion to the company’s Camden fill/finish facility located in Baltimore, Md. The multi-year expansion is expected to be completed in 2021, and will significantly increase the company’s contract development and manufacturing capacity, redundancy, and flexibility. This expansion is also anticipated to create up to 60 new jobs in the next three years.

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Noble Life Sciences Selects Comprehensive Suite of Preclinical Software Solutions from Instem | Business Wire

Instem, a leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, is pleased to announce that Noble Life Sciences, Inc. (Noble) has purchased a comprehensive package of preclinical software solutions, including Provantis®, the market leading preclinical data management system.

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Sonavex Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for EchoMark & EchoMark LP Tissue Markers – Sonavex

Sonavex, Inc., a privately held medical device company focused on improving surgical patient outcomes with point-of-care imaging technologies, announced today that it received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its EchoMark and EchoMark LP soft tissue markers.

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Emerging Therapeutic Company Investment and Deal Trends

With more than 90% of the biopharmaceutical industry made up of small, emerging companies, it is important for BIO to better understand early-stage investor and deal-making trends in order to determine where scientific or policy issues may be impacting the industry’s ability to maintain a robust pipeline of innovative medicines. The ability to access capital and form strategic alliances is vital for small therapeutic-focused companies to succeed in translating novel drug candidates into approved medical products for patients.

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VLP Therapeutics is Recognized by the Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) “Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2017” – VLP Therapeutics

VLP Therapeutics is Recognized by the Government of Japan (Cabinet Office) “Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation for 2017” VLP Therapeutics was recently recognized as one of eleven companies that exemplify Japan’s commitment to Innovation as outlined in the 2017 Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

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Ceres Nanosciences reaches product development milestone for point-of-care Lyme disease test and closes on an additional $5.5M of Series A funding.

Ceres Nanosciences (Ceres) is announcing today that it has reached a key product development milestone for its Nanotrap® Lyme Antigen Test System. The Nanotrap® Lyme Antigen Test System will proceed into manufacturing and analytical performance testing this year and is on track for clinical study and FDA submission in 2019.

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You’re Invited! 2018 Inova Discovery Series: Early Stage Investing in Health Technology

We invite you to join us for the first event of the 2018 Inova Discovery Series: Early Stage Investing in Health Technology on Thursday, June 21, 2018, at the Inova Center for Personalized Health located at 3225 Gallows Road Fairfax, VA 22031.

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Information Session for the Master of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship

Are you interested in leading innovation within an established company or creating your own startup company?

Explore the online Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Applications for the fall 2018 entering class are due by June 15, 2018.

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Partnership Between Maryland Stem Cell Program and Bio-Trac Continues to Grow Through Sponsorship of Upcoming Workshops | Tedco

Bio-Trac, biotechnology training solutions company, announced the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund at TEDCO will partner on three stem cell related training programs: Gene Editing iPSCs and NSCs with CRISPR, Hepatocytes Derived from Human iPSCs, and Generating The Neural Lineage From iPSCs.

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GSK to host the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership conference – EPM Magazine

The conference is aimed at bringing together global companies to showcase the successes and future innovation of the innovative medicines manufacturing sector, which is already worth £30 billion to the economy.

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Johns Hopkins, Betamore, UMB select a cohort of startups for Baltimore’s newest accelerator program Trajectory Next – Baltimore Business Journal

Betamore, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and the University of Maryland, Baltimore have launched the first cohort of a new collaborative accelerator program, called Trajectory Next.

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Kinometrix lands Inova Personalized Health Accelerator’s second investment – Washington Business Journal

The company will receive $75,000 in exchange for up to 10 percent equity, plus incubation space and a customized growth strategy.

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Pfizer commits $600 mln to VC unit – PE Hub

New York City-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc is planning on investing $600 million in biotechnology and other emerging growth companies through Pfizer Ventures. About 25 percent of the funding will focus on neuroscience.

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How NIH is Organizing Its Enormous Troves of Data – Nextgov

The National Institutes of Health on Monday announced a sweeping initiative to revamp the way it manages data in an effort to foster the adoption of artificial intelligence, supercomputing and other technologies poised to transform medical research.

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How Israel Became a World Leader in Biotechnology – The Times of Israel

Renowned worldwide for its technological prowess in fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, IT, and smart mobility, Israel is also continuing to gain recognition for its invaluable contributions to the worlds of biotechnology and the life sciences – technologies which help improve healthcare and quality of life for millions worldwide.

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WIB-Capital Region Hosts Baltimore Mixer

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 – 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EST

It’s been a wonderful spring for Women In Bio in Baltimore. Local organizers have put on amazing morning meet-ups featuring outstanding women scientists-entrepreneurs and business leaders. Let’s cap off this “season” with a Capital Region chapter-wide event. At this evening mixer, we’ll get to know each other more and meet new people in the bio scene in Baltimore and beyond.

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How to find biotech startup cash, with or without traditional VCs

Skim the headlines, and you might get the impression that the biotech startup world revolves around an insider’s club of Midas-listed venture capitalists.

Not true.

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CMS, HHS and FDA to tech innovators: Here’s how to win federal agencies as customers | Healthcare IT News

Healthcare focused startups and government agencies got together in the same room here for HHS Startup Day and each group brought some hard-earned advice for the other.

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Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends report: Key takeaways | ZDNet

Mary Meeker, leading technology analyst and partner at venture firm KIeiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), released her annual internet trends report on Wednesday. As usual, the lengthy compilation of Internet prognostications offers a comprehensive look at the current digital technology landscape and what tech trends to expect next. Here are a few highlights.

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Rent hikes could force out UCity labs – Philadelphia Inquirer – Philly Edition, 2018-05-31

Philadelphia’s old brick residential neighborhoods aren’t the only part of the city that’s being gentrified.

The same thing is happening to University City’s rental lab space, where some rents are quadrupling. It’s a sign of success and the flood of investment boosting biotech firms. But it’s also a threat to startups that could force brainy startup leaders to flee to cheap space in the suburbs or go out of state, some university officials, start-up founders and young scientists say.

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Chinese sister state promoting more trade with Maryland | MarylandReporter.com

When Gov. Harry Hughes went to Anhui Province in China in 1980, it became Maryland’s first foreign sister state, and China’s first province to connect with an American state, the beginning of many steps in its engagement with the United States.

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Life sciences companies could see changes in collaborations with new accounting standard – Boston Business Journal

Regulatory and competitive uncertainties in the marketplace lead many life sciences companies to enter into collaborative arrangements with other companies to develop new drugs or medical devices. These arrangements allow for the leverage of expertise that may not have been available in-house – such as a pharmaceutical company that sees promising new science from a biotech startup – while also sharing in the costs and risks of new product development.

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Gene therapy is saving children’s lives—but screening to discover who needs it is lagging behind – MIT Technology Review

Fifteen children born with a rare muscle-wasting disease would probably not be alive today if not for an experimental treatment that tweaked their genes shortly after they were born.

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Servier Announces Launch of Servier BioInnovation in the U.S. | Business Wire

Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company, today announced the appointments of Christian Schubert, Ph.D. and Rekha Paleyanda, Ph.D., as Directors of Servier BioInnovation along with the opening of the Servier BioInnovation office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The appointments of Dr. Schubert and Dr. Paleyanda, who will head Servier’s U.S. R&D and external innovation, and business development and licensing (BD&L) activities respectively, will operationalize the launch of Servier BioInnovation in the U.S. Located in the heart of one of the world’s leading biotechnology hubs in the Cambridge Innovation Center at Kendall Square, Servier BioInnovation will lead Servier’s expansion efforts into the U.S. innovation ecosystem.

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The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine Launches Foundation to Promote Understanding and Acceptance of Potentially Curative Cell and Gene Therapies

As part of its ongoing efforts to accelerate patient access to safe, effective, and potentially curative gene therapies, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) today announced the launch of the ARM Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine. This independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of the clinical and societal benefits of cell and gene medicine — including gene therapy, gene editing, cell therapy, tissue-engineering, and organ regeneration — and supporting its development through education and research projects.

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Expanding horizons for risk management in pharma – McKinsey & Company

Risk management has become a top-of-mind issue for C-suites and boards around the world—nowhere more than in pharmaceutical companies. In a politically and economically turbulent environment, the risks pharma companies face, especially in clinical-trial design and execution, drug approval, product quality, and global commercial practices, are increasing in both frequency and magnitude.

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Paying tribute to the failures, as we search for new brain cancer therapies – LinkedIn

Today – May 31 – marks the end of Brain Tumor Awareness month. It’s a special time each year to educate the public and to reflect on the impact the disease has on patients, their families and friends.

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306th Edition – May 30, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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May 30, 2018



Montgomery County Council provides $425,000 for fiscal year 2019 operating budget to fund Small Business Innovation Research Matching Grant Program – First County in the US to offer a SBIR matching grant program

The Montgomery County Council approved the fiscal year (FY) 2019 operating budget on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Included in the budget is a total of $425,000 for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Grant Program. The program provides matching fund for businesses that receive federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.

Bill 41-17, Economic Development Fund – Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Matching Grant Program established a County matching fund for businesses that receive federal SBIR and STTR grants. Councilmember George Leventhal, who serves as chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee and is a member of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, was the lead sponsor of Bill 41-17. All other Councilmembers were cosponsors.

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Matt Brady, Vice President at Scheer Partners, chats with host Rich Bendis on BioTalk

In this new episode of BioTalk, Matt Brady and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss topics around lab spaces in the area including, availability, shortages, and solutions to create more in the BioHealth Capital Region.In this new episode of BioTalk, Matt Brady and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss topics around lab spaces in the area including, availability, shortages, and solutions to create more in the BioHealth Capital Region.

Since joining Scheer Partners in 2003, Matt Brady has successfully completed commercial real estate transactions for more than 500,000 square feet of office, R&D and industrial space totaling close to $100 million in transaction value.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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BHI Portfolio Company Perceptive Navigation Awarded $3 Million SBIR Grant to Commercialize the Vu-Path™ Ultrasound System

Perceptive Navigation, LLC, a medical device company developing minimally-invasive, image-guidance solutions for the areas of cardiology, emergency medicine, and interventional radiology, announced today that it has been awarded a Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The award provides up to $3 million in funding to complete the product development and clinical work required to commercialize Perceptive’s first product, the Vu-PathTM Ultrasound System. This award comes as Perceptive completes work on a $1.4 million Phase II award from the NHLBI.

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BHI Portfolio Company VLP Therapeutics announces the Issuance of US Patent #9,969,986 – VLP Therapeutics

VLP Therapeutics, LLC. (“VLP”), a biotechnology company focusing on the research and development of therapeutic and preventative vaccines and new cancer therapies, announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent #9,969,986 covering a virus like particle comprising modified envelope protein E3. The patent protects key composition of matter of VLP’s proprietary i-αVLP virus-like particle platform technology and the pharmaceutical composition for use in preventing infectious disease and the treatment of cancer. VLP Therapeutics is currently focused on developing preventative infectious disease vaccines and therapeutic cancer vaccines utilizing the platform technology covered by patent #9,969,986 and other issued US patents,

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Inova Personalized Health Accelerator Announces BioHealth Innovation, Inc. President & CEO Richard Bendis as Featured Speaker

We’re pleased to announce that Richard Bendis, President & CEO BioHealth Innovation, Inc., will be a featured speaker at the 2018 Inova Discovery Series: Early Stage Investing in Health Technology!

We have over 300+ registered for our inaugural event. We hope you’ll join us on June 21st at the Inova Center for Personalized Health.

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Iowa AgriTech Accelerator announces 2018 class, including BHI Portfolio Company VakSea

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator has announced the five AgTech startups selected for the program’s class of 2018. The Accelerator, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a mentor-led program focused on ag technology innovations.

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities: Is This Stock a Buy? – The Motley Fool

It’s not just tech companies that can trace their roots back to a garage. According to co-founder Joel Marcus, Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) — a real estate investment trust specializing in life sciences laboratory and office space — got its start in a garage, too. Since its founding in 1994, Alexandria Real Estate has grown into an $18 billion commercial real estate Goliath with $1.1 billion in annual revenue. Can this company’s success continue? I recently spoke with Marcus to learn more about the company and its opportunities.

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8 Young Entrepreneurs Inspiring Frederick — City of Frederick Economic Development Blog

In the City of Clustered Spires, the steeples aren’t alone in their impressive trajectories. This month, we recognize eight of Frederick’s most successful young entrepreneurs who have also risen above the ordinary, and continue to reach higher.

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AstraZeneca opens South San Francisco facility housing 400 R&D staff – FierceBiotech

AstraZeneca has officially opened its new research facility in South San Francisco, bundling five of its Bay Area sites into a single unit at the heart of California’s biotech cluster.

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UMD Researchers Point to Future of Engineered Immune Tissues – Fischell Department of Bioengineering

Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park and Baltimore campuses are working to shed new light on how, one day, immune tissues could be designed and implanted to create next-generation vaccines or immunotherapies for a range of diseases, or serve as cutting-edge tools for the early diagnosis of cancers or other illnesses.

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Maryland technology development agency awards grant to study stem cells for improving flu vaccine – Baltimore Sun

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. has awarded a $750,000 grant to Longeveron LLC, a Miami-based biopharmaceutical company, to study whether stem cells can make a better flu vaccine for seniors with a researcher from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Marketing Communications Internship Opening at BHI

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is a nonprofit organization focused on supporting BioHealth entrepreneurs and related industry growth in Montgomery County and the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, D.C. and Virginia). BHI is seeking an energetic and motivated Marketing Intern to assist with communications and marketing-related projects. This position is estimated to be 15-25 hours per week, would start immediately, and continue for 12 weeks. In addition to the responsibilities listed below, the intern may attend meetings and programs to understand the full work of BHI and how the organization accomplishes its mission through constituent outreach and support, commercialization and partnership activity.

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CARB-X 2018 Round 2 Funding Application Open thru June 8, 2018

Applications CARB-X welcomes applications from around the world for funding and support for the early development of antibiotics, diagnostics, vaccines, devices and other products to combat the most serious drug-resistant bacteria. Please read the sections below carefully to find out what CARB-X funds and how to apply for funding and support.

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Angel investments rise in valuation in 2017 – New Hampshire Business Review – June 8 2018

While the number of active investors and funded ventures continued to shrink in 2017, an increase in dollars invested and deal sizes shows angel investors are bullish about their prospects, indicates an annual report by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research.

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Increasing the ROI from the Federal Labs – IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Patent Law

The Administration is kicking off a series of public meetings as part of its “Return on Investment” initiative to increase the benefits that American taxpayers receive from funding $150 B annually in government supported R&D. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is heading the project and issued a request for information (Request for Information (RFI)) seeking ideas on how to improve the commercialization of resulting technologies.

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Biotech Leader Testifies before House Capital Markets Subcommittee | Business Wire

Brian Hahn, Chief Financial Officer of GlycoMimetics, Inc., provided testimony today on behalf of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment. Hahn serves as the Co-Chair of BIO’s Finance & Tax Committee.

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Understanding the High-Tech Ecosystem – Maryland Daily Record

Understanding the far- and wide-ranging Maryland technology ‘household’ or ecosystem is essential to success, according to Glenna E. Cush, director of marketing with the state’s Small Business Development Center.

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Useful Stats: SBIR/STTR awards by state, 2013-2017 – SSTI

The SBIR/STTR program, which dubs itself as “America’s Seed Fund,” is one of the broadest forms of early-stage capital available to small technology companies. During the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, the 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR/STTR program distributed 25,524 awards. Using charts, maps, and a downloadable spreadsheet, this Digest article looks at trends in SBIR/STTR awards by state over the period, including the companies with the most awards and states where SBIR/STTR awards outnumber VC deals. A future article will look at awards by metropolitan area.

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9th Call of the U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund-Introduction – Application

The United States–India Science & Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF) was created for the promotion of joint activities that would lead to innovation and entrepreneurship through the application of science and technology. US-India research partners working on tangible innovations are suitable for this funding.

9th Call of the United States-India Science & Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF) Program is now open with a deadline of 15 June 2018. While the detailed information about the program can be accessed through the websites www.usistef.org and www.iusstf.org

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Combating the Opioid Epidemic Affecting Children – 2018 BIO International Convention – Session/Event Details

Opioids: Changing the Paradigm on Treating Pain and Addiction

4:15 PM–5:15 PM Jun 5, 2018

Room 256, Level 2

The opioid epidemic knows no age limits. Newborns and young children are the most vulnerable victims of the opioid epidemic. An American Academy of Pediatrics research suggests more than 100 children test positive for opioid addiction or dependency each day in US emergency departments. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) births in the US occur at the rate of ~6 for every 1,000 and 15 per 1,000 in some rural areas. Studies suggest there will be over 50,000 NAS infant births in 2017.

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Is the gold rush in immunotherapy trials good? – MedCity News

Although the concept of immunotherapy has been around for more than a century, it only gained prominence as a method of targeted cancer therapy in the early 2000s. In 2015, Merck’s Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), a checkpoint inhibitor drug, made headlines as a breakthrough therapy for melanoma after former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was treated with it. Keytruda had just received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first anti-PD-1 therapy, and its highly-publicized success created a frenzy in the media; followed by the initiation of scores of immuno-oncology (I-O) clinical trials.

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Why the evolving healthcare services and technology market matters – McKinsey & Company

The healthcare services and technology market is growing rapidly, which creates opportunities, risks, and structural questions for companies in the sector and those in the broader healthcare value chain.

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Where College Grads Are Moving – Newgeography.com

The Wall Street Journal just ran an interesting interactive feature looking at where college grads move after graduation. They looked at 445 schools, and tracked destinations by metro area. They discovered that graduates, particularly from stronger schools, are flocking to major metro areas. The Big East, Ivy League, Pac-12, Big-12, ACC, and Big Ten are all over 70% in sending college grads to major metro areas (but see below for caveats).

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UK Government and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation join CARB-X partnership in fight against superbugs – Carb-X

Research to develop life-saving products, including new vaccines and other products to protect against deadly drug-resistant bacterial infections, got a significant boost today.

The UK Government’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have joined the CARB-X partnership to support scientific research around the world to develop new vaccines, preventatives, and other products against drug-resistant bacterial infections, particularly among vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries.

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State To Invest $30M Into Center For Bioelectronic Medicine – Port Washington, NY Patch

New York State will invest $30 million into the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset as part of the state’s $72 million investment to support three transformative, economic developments on Long Island, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

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DOD-Sponsored Study Tests Hyperbaric Oxygen as TBI Treatment – Physical Therapy Products

Results from a multi-year clinical trial testing hyperbaric oxygen as an intervention for US military service members who have experience mild traumatic brain injuries with persistent symptoms were published recently in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal.

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Neuroscience-Based Product Innovation: Hype or Hope? | INSEAD Knowledge

AI and Big Data allow innovators to leverage neuroscientific knowledge at scale to untapped markets.

We would all like our brains to be more powerful – especially those of us with reason to fear the effects of advancing age or a degenerative illness. For the entrepreneurs behind widely promoted “brain-training” apps like Lumosity, the universal desire for cognitive improvement translates to lucrative opportunities. Some scientists and clinicians, too, have hopped on the bandwagon, seeking avenues to lend their expertise to the business world while theoretically bringing cognitive enhancement to the masses.

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Copyright © BioHealth Innovation 2017
All Rights Reserved.



305th Edition – May 23, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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May 30, 2018



BioHealth Innovation Appoints Jarrod Borkat as new Vice Chairman of the Board

MedImmune Sr. Director, Partnering & Strategy filling role previously held by Emergent BioSolutions CEO, Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved the appointment of MedImmune Sr. Director, Partnering & Strategy, Jarrod Borkat as new Vice Chairman. MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, is a Founding Partner of BHI and continues to be a leader in building the BioHealth Capital Region. BHI would like to thank Emergent BioSolutions CEO, Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, for his service as Vice Chairman. He will remain as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Abdun-Nabi also previously served as chairman of the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board (LSAB) and currently serves on Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s Excel Board.

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Margaret Anderson, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, sits down with host Rich Bendis for this episode of BioTalk. They discuss her career path, putting patients at the center of biomedical and public health, and engaging with all sectors

Margaret Anderson, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, sits down with host Rich Bendis for this episode of BioTalk. They discuss her career path, putting patients at the center of biomedical and public health, and engaging with all sectors. Margaret Anderson is a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP focused on using strategy to make organizations, agencies, and programs stronger and more laser focused on outcomes for patients. Her career has traversed biomedical and public health policy and she’s motivated by the change she’s seen in bringing treatments and solutions for patients forward.

As used in this podcast, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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Kite Pharma Announces New Worldwide Facilities Including Expanded Collaboration with National Cancer Institute to Support Cell Therapy Pipeline in new 26K sf facility in Gaithersburg, MD

Kite, a Gilead Company (Nasdaq: GILD), today announced it has leased a new facility in the Netherlands to engineer cell therapies in Europe. The 117,000 square-foot site in Hoofddorp (SEGRO Park Amsterdam Airport) will enable Kite to efficiently manufacture and deliver its cell therapies to people living with cancer in Europe and will provide more than 300 new jobs when fully operational in 2020.

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175,000 sq. ft. Development in Bethesda Will Focus on Creating “Bethesda Bio” — MCEDC

StonebridgeCarras and The Donohoe Companies announced plans today for their project at 8280 Wisconsin Avenue which will focus its 175,000 square feet of commercial space on bringing life sciences to the Bethesda Central Business District (CBD).  StonebridgeCarras and Donohoe’s vision for the project is to capitalize on two converging trends:  employers locating their offices in live, work and play environments with access to mass transportation; and life sciences companies co-locating near thought leaders and institutions driving research and advancement.

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Marketing Communications Internship Opening at BHI

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is a nonprofit organization focused on supporting BioHealth entrepreneurs and related industry growth in Montgomery County and the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, D.C. and Virginia).  BHI is seeking an energetic and motivated Marketing Intern to assist with communications and marketing-related projects. This position is estimated to be 15-25 hours per week, would start immediately, and continue for 12 weeks.  In addition to the responsibilities listed below, the intern may attend meetings and programs to understand the full work of BHI and how the organization accomplishes its mission through constituent outreach and support, commercialization and partnership activity.

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Iowa AgriTech Accelerator announces startups for program’s 2018 cohort – VakSea accepted to participate

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator is a mentor-led accelerator focused on AgTech innovations. The Accelerator is led by innovators and leaders in several areas of agriculture, and seeks startups ready to change the status quo.

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MockV Solutions Announces Collaboration with NIH for Predicting Viral Clearance During Small Scale Bioprocess Development – MockV Solutions

MockV Solutions, Inc. (MockV or the Company), a company developing innovative products to analyze virus clearance during process development, announced today that it will be collaborating with the Vaccine Production Program of the Vaccine Research Center/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (VRC, NIAID, NIH) to evaluate its lead product candidate, the MVM-MVP Kit. The MVM-MVP Kit contains a non-infectious “Mock Virus Particle” (MVP) spiking surrogate that mimics the physicochemical characteristics of Minute Virus of Mice (MVM), a small and physiochemically resistant parvovirus, used as a universal standard for assessing viral clearance during process validation studies. The intention of this collaboration is to determine if the non-infectious MVP could be used as an accurate and economic indicator of MVM clearance during small scale bioprocess development studies.

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Maryland Tech Council Announces Winners of 30th Annual Industry Awards | Business Wire

The Maryland Tech Council (MTC), Maryland’s largest technology trade association, announced the winners of its 30th Annual Industry Awards during a celebration and ceremony at The Hotel at the University of Maryland attended by more than 550 business leaders from around the state.

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Johns Hopkins startup gets funding from company turning research into businesses – Technical.ly Baltimore

A company that works to turn intellectual property into businesses is backing a new Johns Hopkins startup developing therapeutics to treat cancer.

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Rexahn Phase 2a Combination Study of RX-3117 and Abraxane® in First-line Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Patients Advances to Second Stage (NYSE:RNN)

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American:RNN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative, targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, advances its ongoing Phase 2a study of RX-3117 in combination with Abraxane® in first-line patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer following a recently completed routine Safety Monitoring Committee (SMC) review.

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MdBio Foundation Names Laurel 12th Grader Katy Wnuk-Fink as Maryland BioGENEius Finalist – Business Wire

The MdBio Foundation, a non-profit that provides STEM education and workforce development to underserved communities, today announced that Katy Wnuk-Fink – a senior from Laurel who attends Reservoir High School – was named winner of the 2018 Maryland BioGENEius Challenge, the premier competition for high school students that recognizes outstanding original research in biotechnology for healthcare, sustainability, and the environment. As the Maryland BioGENEius finalist, Wnuk-Fink will represent the state in the International BioGENEius Challenge at the BIO International Convention in Boston in June.

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TEDCO awards $7.1 million to 25 stem cell projects in Maryland – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland Technology Development Corp. has doled out $7.1 million to 25 companies and researchers working on stem cell products and medical therapies.

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Protenus Recognized as One of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare in 2018 – Protenus

Protenus has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. The complete list of this year’s winners, in alphabetical order, is available here. Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring ranked lists of all the winners along with the October 1 issue.

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Paragon Bioservices Recognized as Life Science Company of the Year by Maryland Tech Council – Paragon Bioservices, Inc.

Paragon Bioservices, Inc. (Paragon), the leading private equity-backed biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with proven expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines, was named the 2018 Life Science Company of the Year by the Maryland Tech Council (MTC). The announcement came at MTC’s 30th Annual Industry Awards held last night in the Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park.

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Grand Prize Winner for the Innovation for Impact Prize Announced by SoBran and the Maryland Tech Council

SoBran BioScience, a division of SoBran Inc, and a leading provider of pre-clinical GLP contract research announced the grand prize winner of the Innovation for Impact Prize sponsored in partnership with the Maryland Tech Council (MTC). This Grand Prize was awarded last night at the MTC 30th Anniversary Industry Awards Celebration.

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KEI Sues NIH Over Gilead CAR-T Patents – PharmaLive

A nonprofit organization, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), recently filed a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over Gilead Sciences’ patents for a new chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy.

KEI calls itself a “not for profit non government organization that searches for better outcomes, including new solutions, to the management of knowledge resources. KEI is focused on social justice, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, including low-income persons and marginalized groups.”

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SBA Seeks Grant Applications from Organizations – Hudson Valley News Network

The U.S. Small Business Administration, under its Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program, is soliciting grant applications from New York organizations to help boost the development of technology from small businesses.

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Nostopharma LLC is working on a cure for a common surgery complication – Washington Business Journal

A complication from surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars and require more surgery to correct — but a young Maryland startup is cooking up a more affordable and less invasive solution.

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NIST Revises Intellectual Property Rights – Federal Labs

Join the FLC on Tuesday, May 22 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for an inside look into these new regulations with NIST’s Courtney Silverthorn. To register for this webinar, visit http://connect.federallabs.org/new-t2-regulations-what-you-need-to-know.

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RFA-HL-19-018: NHLBI SBIR Phase IIB Small Market Awards to Accelerate the Commercialization of Technologies for Heart, Lung, Blood, and Sleep Disorders and Diseases (R44 Clinical Trial Optional)

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is an important National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding mechanism used to develop innovative solutions that address public health challenges. A major objective of the SBIR Program is to facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed by small business concerns (SBCs). Yet, the development of biomedical products is often impeded by a significant funding gap between the end of the SBIR Phase II award and the commercialization stage. This gap is increased by the barriers associated with technologies under development for small commercial markets, such as those focused on rare diseases or young pediatric populations. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites small businesses to submit SBIR grant applications to support later stage research and development (referred to as Phase IIB) for promising projects that were previously funded by SBIR or STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) Phase II awards that address rare diseases or young pediatric populations (aged 0-12 years and defined in Section IV, part 7), and will require eventual Federal regulatory approval/clearance. The goal of this FOA and the resulting Phase IIB awards is to assist applicants in pursuing the next appropriate milestone(s) necessary to advance a product to regulatory approval and commercialization by promoting partnerships between small business awardees and third-party investors and/or strategic partners, including patient advocacy organizations.

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RFA-HL-19-017: NHLBI SBIR Phase IIB Bridge Awards to Accelerate the Commercialization of Technologies for Heart, Lung, Blood, and Sleep Disorders and Diseases (R44 – Clinical Trial Optional)

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is an important funding mechanism that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) uses to develop innovative solutions that address public health challenges. A major objective of the SBIR Program is to facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed by small business concerns (SBCs). Yet, the development of biomedical products is often impeded by a significant funding gap between the end of the SBIR Phase II award and the commercialization stage. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites SBIR grant applications from SBCs to support later stage research and development (referred to as Phase IIB) for promising projects that were previously funded by SBIR or STTR Phase II awards and will require eventual Federal regulatory approval/clearance. The goal of this FOA and the resulting Phase IIB awards is to assist applicants in pursuing the milestone(s) necessary to advance a product to regulatory approval and commercialization by promoting partnerships between SBIR Phase II awardees and third-party investors and/or strategic partners.

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Top 5 Trends in the Pharmaceutical Industry in 2018

This white paper takes an in depth look at trends in the pharmaceutical industry that are anticipated to make a significant impact on the sector in 2018. Industry professionals can leverage this information to make the course adjustments that will give their companies a competitive edge in the market.

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Medical Fish Skin Company Kerecis Receives the Industry Award for Entrepreneurship from the President of Iceland

Today the President of Iceland awarded Kerecis the Industry Award for Entrepreneurship. Kerecis is the creator, manufacturer and patent holder of revolutionary, fish-skin-based therapeutic products that speed up the healing process of human wounds and repair tissue damage.

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Pace of exits picks up for venture development organizations in Q1 – SSTI

Venture development organizations (VDO), nonprofit organizations across the country investing in innovation startups to help grow their regional economies as well as earn a respectable return, saw at least 20 exits in the first quarter of 2018, based on data entered on Pitchbook.com. Here are some examples from the quarter:

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Mount Sinai’s Icahn medical school launches $10 million investment fund | Crain’s New York Business

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has created a $10 million accelerator fund to speed up the commercialization of research at the school. It’s starting with two investments in drug-development ventures.

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Raising your next round? Six qualities that define top healthcare VCs – MedCity News

Founders can become myopic during the long, stressful process of fundraising. Many focus solely on the amount of money they’re going to raise, their valuation, and the brand name of the investors they are pitching.

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A look inside Tufts, Biolabs new biotech incubator Launchpad in downtown Boston – Boston Business Journal

Tufts University has joined the biotech incubator craze, launching a coworking space in Boston earlier this year that organizers hope will foster another life sciences cluster in the heart of the city.

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Boston Children’s, Red Hat develop cloud platform for images | Health Data Management

Boston Children’s Hospital has teamed up with open-source solution provider Red Hat to create a web-based medical image platform that will speed the time it takes to share and analyze life-saving images.

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AZBio initiative aims to cure funding gap that ails Arizona

Trying to build on Arizona’s significant investments in the life science discovery and healthcare delivery infrastructure, the state’s leaders are focused on bridging the funding gap that slows the growth of Arizona-based life science companies. Leaders of Arizona’s life science sector share a drive to accomplish a common goal: accelerate the growth of local companies that are developing and delivering innovative treatments that truly change lives.

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IPO Slowdown Leads Silicon Valley Venture Giant NEA to Sell $1 Billion Worth of Startup Stakes – WSJ

New Enterprise Associates, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture-capital firms, plans to sell off a big chunk of its startup investments in response to a dearth of initial public offerings, according to people familiar with the discussions.

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All Rights Reserved.



304th Edition – May 15, 2018

By BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives




BioHealth Innovation


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May 15, 2018



Live from the BioHealth Capital Region Forum – Part 1: Jim Jackson, SVP, CSO at Emergent BioSolutions and Jim Hughes, Vice President at University of Maryland, Baltimore

In this first part of two episodes, Rich sits down with leaders from different parts of the BHCR to talk about what they are working on, and their thoughts on the event. His guests are Jim Jackson, SVP, CSO at Emergent BioSolutions and Jim Hughes, Vice President at University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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Live from the BioHealth Capital Region Forum – Part 2: Todd Haim, SBIR Director, NCI SBIR Development Center at NIH, and Matthew McMahon, Director, Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH

In this second part of two episodes, Rich sits down with leaders from different parts of the BHCR to talk about what they are working on, and their thoughts on the event. His guests are Todd Haim, SBIR Director, NCI SBIR Development Center at NIH, and Matthew McMahon, Director, Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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4 States Control 80 Percent of Venture Capital Dollars – MARYLAND climbs to number 6

More than half of all venture capital dollars invested in small businesses and startups during the first three months of 2018 went straight into the state of California, according to a recent investment report from PwC and CB Insights suggesting the vast majority of business investment in the U.S. is concentrated in only a few states.

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BeneVir Biopharm Inc. to be acquired by Janssen Biotech Inc. for up to $1.04B – Washington Business Journal

Rockville-based BeneVir Biopharm Inc., a biotech specializing in immunotherapy treatments for cancer, has reached a deal to sell to pharmaceutical goliath Janssen Biotech Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, in a deal worth up to $1.04 billion.

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Emergent BioSolutions Moves Things Around — The Motley Fool

The first-quarter numbers for Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) didn’t look too great. In fact, they were arguably ugly.

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Traumatic Brain Injury Research by Emmes Corporation, LDS Hospital, Lovelace Biomedical

The Emmes Corporation today announced that scientists and health professionals from the company, LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, Lovelace Biomedical Environmental Research Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the U.S. Army Medical and Materiel Development Activity at Fort Detrick, Maryland, have completed a multi-year clinical trial testing hyperbaric oxygen as an intervention for U.S. military service members who have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries with persistent symptoms.

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Johns Hopkins effort to promote economic growth in Baltimore exceeds expectations – Hub

It pays to be a business in Baltimore. That’s the message that Johns Hopkins wants proprietors and their patrons to know as part of the institution’s HopkinsLocal initiative to support and invest in local enterprises.

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Medical device inventor Robert E. Fischell gives University of Maryland School of Medicine $20 million to establish center for biomedical innovation – Baltimore Business Journal

Famous local inventor Robert E. Fischell is gifting $20 million to the University of Maryland School of Medicine in support of biomedical research.

The gift will be used to establish the Robert E. Fischell Center for Biomedical Innovation at the medical school, and provide funding for a planned new 450,000 square foot research building on the school’s Baltimore campus. It will also support research funds and endowed professorships for the new Fischell Center.

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Intralytix Acquires Site for New Headquarters

Intralytix, Inc., announced today that it has closed on the acquisition of a 33,000 sq. ft. building in Columbia, Maryland. The facility, located in the Columbia Gateway Community, will serve as the Company’s new headquarters. Plans are underway to house expanded research and laboratory space, executive offices, and substantially increased manufacturing capacity.

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UMD announces $1.5 billion fundraising campaign that’s halfway complete – The Diamondback

The University of Maryland announced its goal Friday to fundraise $1.5 billion by the end of 2021 for numerous construction projects, scholarship funds and program upgrades, according to a news release.

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Seoul to spend massive money in biohealth sector – Korea Biomedical Review

The government said Friday it would spend 7.5 trillion won ($7 billion) to support the biohealth sector by 2022 aggressively.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy launched “Industrial Innovation 2020 Platform” with private companies and experts to discuss cooperative measures to accelerate private sector-driven industrial innovation and growth.

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Japan’s Takeda clinches $62 billion Shire deal as pharma M&A rolls on – Reuters

Takeda Pharmaceutical agreed to buy London-listed Shire for 45.3 billion pounds ($62 billion) on Tuesday, the biggest yet in a wave of deals sweeping the drugs industry.

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The Collective Seattle Is A Clubhouse For Big Kids – Commercial Real Estate

Think of The Collective as a 15K SF clubhouse for big kids. Grownups are welcome, but leave your electronic devices in your pockets, please. This is about face-to-face fun.

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Army Doctors Grew a Soldier a New Ear — On Her Forearm – Time

You’ve heard the cliché about wearing your heart on your sleeve. But a group of Army doctors did one better: They grew a new ear on a soldier’s forearm, using cartilage harvested from her ribs.

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