BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives

BHI recognizes Jerry Parrott’s Board Contributions

Scott Carmer (BHI Board Chair), Jerry Parrott, and Rich Bendis (BHI CEO)

On January 24th, 2013 BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) recognized Jerry Parrott, formerly with Human Genome Sciences, for his contributions as a BHI Founding Board member. He served on the board from 2011 to 2013 and will continue to remain active on BHI’s Commercial Relevance Advisory Board (CRAB). We thank Jerry for his service and look forward to a long lasting relationship.

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BHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence Job Opportunity

POSITION DESCRIPTION – Entrepreneur-in-Residence

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) will lead in the evaluation of early-stage technologies, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise BHI on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR influences the BHI organization by strategically managing and providing information, intelligence and insights that drive critical business decisions. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets.

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Job Openings at our Partner Company: Symcat

Are you interested in or know anybody that is interested in working at the forefront of e-Health? Our partner company Symcat have developed a mobile platform to aid people in identifying their symptoms while matching their data to thousands of other patient records.

Symcat is looking to fill the following positions:

Data Scientist
Marketing Director
Mobile Developer
Ruby Developer

To apply click here: http://symcat.theresumator.com/apply

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National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Job Opportunity

Director, Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination
Application Deadline Jan 28th, 2013

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland is seeking a dynamic, innovative and accomplished biomedical/biotechnology executive with demonstrated scientific and entrepreneurial expertise to provide strategic vision and leadership for the Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC). The OTAC is charged with developing, implementing and leading translational research programs that create recognizable commercial value for discoveries and innovations during their gestational stages and facilitating their ultimate translation into new diagnostics, devices, therapeutics and tools. The Office is also charged with identifying emerging areas of translational opportunities, serving as a focal point for extramural researchers for information on NHLBI-wide small business technology development opportunities.

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NHLBI Funding and Research Opportunities, January 24, 2013

NHLBI Funding and Research Opportunities

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

NIH Guide Notices:

• NOT-OD-13-025: Notice Announcing FAQ Page and Pre-Application Webinar for RFA-OD-12-007 "NIH Revision Applications for Research Relevant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (P30)"
• NOT-HL-12-165: Request for Information – Production Assistance for Cellular Therapies (PACT)
• NOT-HL-13-166: Request for Information (RFI) for High-Priority Research Topics for Sedentary Behavior

Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.
 

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O’Malley floats $3 million tax credit pool to bolster cyber security – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland is looking to build on the success of a biotechnology tax credit to bolster another industry here — cyber security.

Gov. Martin O’Malley proposed in his fiscal 2014 budget a new cyber security tax credit that would set aside $3 million to encourage cyber security companies to expand or set up shop in Maryland.

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Bloomberg pledges $350 million to Johns Hopkins University – The Washington Post

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has pledged a $350 million gift to Johns Hopkins University to support interdisciplinary research and student financial aid, a commitment that will push his lifetime donations to his alma mater to more than $1 billion, the university announced Saturday.

Hopkins officials said they believe that Bloomberg will become the first person to reach the $1 billion level of giving to a single U.S. institution of higher education — an assertion that’s hard to verify because many donors give anonymously to universities. It is also difficult to compare the dollar value of modern donations to those in earlier eras.

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SR One Announces the OneStart 158600 Life Sciences

Venture capital firm SR One has launched “OneStart,” its first business plan competition, in association with Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable and Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. OneStart is designed to inspire and encourage its participants to become the next generation of European bio- entrepreneurs. The £100,000 winner-takes-all prize will be the largest of its kind in the world. Uniquely, OneStart will actively connect individuals from a range of institutions and backgrounds.

OneStart is open to aspiring life science entrepreneurs age 35 and younger who are studying or working in Europe. The competition will be run in stages and cover four tracks: drug discovery, medical devices, diagnostics and health information technology. The competition will team up those who have developed a technology or idea, such as academics, with individuals who have complementary backgrounds and skills, e.g. business school students, or young professionals from pharma or biotech.

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Emergent BioSolutions initiates Phase II clinical trial for Anthrax vaccine – equities.com

Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a pharmaceutical company, has initiated the Phase II clinical trial for NuThrax or AV7909, with the dosing of the first subject.

NuThrax, a next generation vaccine being developed as part of Emergent’s anthrax franchise, consists of Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed in combination with a novel immune stimulatory adjuvant, CPG 7909.

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Johns Hopkins awarded $3.5M for robot research project – BmoreMedia

Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering is collaborating with universities around the country on a project to create robots that work more efficiently with people. The National Science Foundation has funded the four-year, $3.5-million human-robot interaction research project, part of the National Robotics Initiative, a federal effort.   

“In the world of robotics, there are two natural extremes: the completely autonomous robot and the fully technically-operated robot,” says Gregory Hager, chair of the computer science department at the engineering school.

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Forget double helix. ‘Quadruple helix’ DNA discovered in human cells | ScienceBlog.com

In 1953, Cambridge researchers Watson and Crick published a paper describing the interweaving ‘double helix’ DNA structure – the chemical code for all life.

Now, in the year of that scientific landmark’s 60th Anniversary, Cambridge researchers have published a paper proving that four-stranded ‘quadruple helix’ DNA structures – known as G-quadruplexes – also exist within the human genome. They form in regions of DNA that are rich in the building block guanine, usually abbreviated to ‘G’.

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Acceleprise welcomes first of three classes for ’13 – The Washington Post

District-based Acceleprise, a business accelerator program for companies that sell technology or services to other companies or organizations, is expanding in an effort to serve more start-ups and raise its national profile.

Started last spring, the program is the brainchild of managing partner Sean Glass and partners Allen Gannett and Collin Gutman. In addition to a $30,000 investment, participating start-ups spend several months honing business models and products at the Acceleprise office.

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Life sciences boosted by new £50m venture capital fund – BBC News

A £50m venture capital fund focusing on early-stage life science and health technology companies has been launched in Scotland.

Rock Spring Ventures said it had already secured commitments worth more than £25m from a range of investors.

Backers include the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

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Which pharmaceutical company had the most drug approvals last year? – BiotechBlog

You might be surprised to find out which companies lead pharmaceutical industry drug approvals. This infographic from DrugPatentWatch shows that Mylan, Aurobindo, and Apotex led 2012 drug approvals. What some readers may find surprising is the relative absence of branded pharmaceutical firms from this list.

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70 percent of Americans track their health, but most go low-tech — Tech News and Analysis

It may just be early adopter tech types who log every step they take or calorie they burn using Fitbits, Nike Fuelbands, and other devices, but that hardly means they’re the only ones who track their health.

About 7 in 10 American adults told the Pew Internet & American Life Project that they track a health indicator like weight, diet, exercise or a symptom. But despite growing buzz around the “quantified self” movement and the explosion of gadgets and apps that help people measure and analyze everything from their activity and sleep patterns to blood glucose levels and other vital signs, just a small slice of health trackers rely on high tech devices.

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc. signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MIMETAS

Rich Bendis (BHI) and Paul Vulto (MIMETAS) signing the MOU agreement.

MIMETAS is a Dutch microfluidics company focusing on high-throughput organ-on-a-chip systems for predictive toxicology testing, efficacy screening and personalized therapy.

BHI will support MIMETAS by assisting in establishing a MIMETAS US-based subsidiary, aiding in the application for US- and Maryland-based grants (e.g. SBIR, TEDCO), and identifying potential collaborators and partnerships.

This partnership is important in further expanding Maryland’s connections internationally and expanding Maryland’s biohealth sector.

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Peter Greenleaf steps down as MedImmune president, Bahija Jallal chosen as replacement – Capital Business Blog – The Washington Post

Peter Greenleaf is stepping down down as president of Gaithersburg-based biotechnology giant MedImmune, according to a company spokesman, to take the helm of parent company AstraZeneca’s Latin America business.

He will be replaced by Bahija Jallal, who currently serves as MedImmune’s executive vice president of research and development. Jallal joined the company in 2006 as vice president of translational sciences.

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Deals Of The Week Catches Up with SR One – The IN VIVO Blog

Amid the exhaustive meet-and-greet opportunities available at the 2013 JP Morgan conference, which took place in San Francisco earlier this week, we met with Jens Eckstein, who joined SR One as its latest president slightly more than a year ago. SR One, as most IV Blog readers know, is the corporate venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline, and one of the oldest corporate venture funds in the industry. In an era in which such funds are assuming an ever-more important role in early-stage funding of innovative biotech companies, SROne’s priorities and strategic direction should be of great interest.

GSK has set broad parameters for SR One, with few restrictions; the firm invests with an eye on “the future of pharma in general,” not GSK, Eckstein says. GSK has never bought an SR One investment, and the firm steps aside if it sells one of its portfolio companies. He adds that the fund’s priority is early-stage innovation, with innovation defined broadly as “anything that changes the way medicine is done today.” That said, as SR One’s interests move “earlier and earlier” up the value chain, the evergreen funding provided by the corporate parent eliminates funding cycles and gives the venture firm a huge advantage over independent competitors.

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GSK invests $50M in biotech startup venture fund

GlaxoSmithKline is looking to fatten its drug pipeline through another venture capital investment with a $50 million commitment to a California fund.

The drug giant on Wednesday said it would invest in the $250 million Sanderling Biotech Venture Fund. The fund will be managed out of San Mateo, Calif.

The commitment is one of several made by GSK (NYS: GSK) to several funds focused on helping emerging and early-stage companies advancing potential drug candidates. 

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Baltimore ranks No. 4 among America’s hottest tech cities – Baltimore Business Journal

The Baltimore-area ranks fourth on a new Forbes list of the hottest tech markets in the country.

The report, conducted by Praxis Strategy Group, made its calculations based on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) employment from 2001 to 2012 in the country’s 51 largest metropolitan areas.

The report says Baltimore’s STEM employment has grown 17.9 percent since 2001. In the last two years, STEM employment rose by 3.9 percent.

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AstraZeneca seeking out more alliances

AstraZeneca has been talking about the importance of expanding its network of collaborations at the JPMorgan healthcare conference in San Francisco.

Blogging from the meeting, Shaun Grady, vice president of strategic partnering and business development at the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, noted that AstraZeneca and its MedImmune unit have a team of 60 “scouting for opportunities that fit our therapeutic and commercial focus”. He added that the firm has scheduled a record number of meetings at the event, approximately 320 in total.

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Tech Council of Maryland calls for R&D, biotech tax credit boost – Washington Business Journal

The Tech Council of Maryland called on legislators Monday to triple the funding for the state’s research and development tax credit and double the scope of its popular biotech tax credit, among other measures.

The Tech Council of Maryland places the expansion of the R&D credit from $6 million to $18 million among its top priorities for the 2013 General Assembly session, which convenes in Annapolis on Wednesday. The measure failed to win approval last year despite passing the Senate. The Tech Council also wants to see that credit made available for companies that haven’t yet reached profitability.

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ETC Announces AccelerateBaltimore™ Winning Companies

Baltimore City’s technology incubator, ETC  (Emerging Technology Center), announced today that six companies have been selected to participate in the 2013 AccelerateBaltimore™ program –a 50% increase from the first AccelerateBaltimore™-. The program received over 120 applications from all over the world. The three month accelerator will kick off on February 4, 2013. 

“The quality of the applications and the number of participants was amazing. It made the job of choosing the final participants very difficult,” says Deb Tillett, President of ETC. “We had the help of some professionals from the tech community and it was a challenging but fun process. Congratulations and thanks to all I can’t wait to get started.”

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Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., signs license agreement for flu vaccine production – Vaccine News Daily

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., recently signed a license agreement for the manufacture and sale of VaxInnate Corporation’s recombinant influenza vaccine.

The deal is considered to be a step in the right direction towards preparing the United States for the event of a major influenza pandemic. The licensing agreement grants Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., the right to manufacture and sell VaxInnate’s pandemic flu vaccine in the United States. VaxInnate, in turn, will receive payments and royalties associated with vaccine’s production and sale.

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New Enterprise Associates tops list of most active VCs – Washington Business Journal

Bicoastal venture titan New Enterprise Associates ranked as the most active VC firm in the country last year, according to investment research firm CB Insights.

NEA, which has major offices in Chevy Chase, beat out Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, Andreesen Horowitz and other top VCs, according to the report, which attributes NEA’s exuberance to its shiny new $2.6 billion fund. Major NEA deals last year include Sonatype Inc., Desire2Learn, 10Gen and Lithium Technologies.

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Washington region raises an abysmal $95 million in Q4 venture funding – Washington Business Journal

Companies in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. raised a paltry $94.9 million in venture funding in the last three months of 2012, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP MoneyTree report, marking one of the shabbiest quarters in years.

The region hasn’t seen this weak of a fundraising total since the $89.7 million raised in the first quarter of 2009, according to historical MoneyTree data. Excluding that period, the end of 2012 would have ranked as the worst quarter since the first quarter of 1997.

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Maryland budget reflects improving economy – baltimoresun.com

Gov. Martin O’Malley released a $37 billion spending plan Wednesday that for the first time in recent years contains no drastic cuts or proposed tax increases.

Amid a stronger economy, O’Malley also proposed to boost the pay for state workers, expand tax credits for some high-tech industries and set aside more money to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

“These have been challenging years to say the least,” O’Malley said.

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GSK seeks FDA approval for new GLP-1 agonist

British healthcare firm GlaxoSmithKline has filed for US regulatory approval of its new type 2 diabetes drug albiglutide, which belongs to the same group of injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists as Byetta, Bydureon and Victoza .

GSK announced on Monday that it had submitted the once-weekly medication to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval and confirmed that it also plans to seek European Union regulatory approval for the new product in 2013.

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Bahija Jallal to replace Peter Greenleaf as head of MedImmune – Baltimore Business Journal

MedImmune executive Bahija Jallal will be the new chief of the Gaithersburg biotech under a leadership shuffle by parent company AstraZeneca, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday. Current MedImmune President Peter Greenleaf will lead AstraZeneca’s Latin American business.

Jallal, who joined MedImmune in 2006 as a vice president of translational sciences, has also been promoted to AstraZeneca’s senior executive team, according to an announcement on Tuesday. That announcement, however, left unclear exactly how her role at MedImmune would change, and how that change would affect Greenleaf.

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Johns Hopkins scientists use Pap test fluid to detect ovarian, endometrial cancers – Science Codex

Using cervical fluid obtained during routine Pap tests, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a test to detect ovarian and endometrial cancers. In a pilot study, the “PapGene” test, which relies on genomic sequencing of cancer-specific mutations, accurately detected all 24 (100 percent) endometrial cancers and nine of 22 (41 percent) ovarian cancers. Results of the experiments are published in the January 9 issue of the journal, Science Translational Medicine.

The investigators note that larger scale studies are needed before clinical implementation can begin, but they believe the test has the potential to pioneer genomic-based cancer screening tests.

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At J.P. Morgan Conference, VCs Upbeat on Medical Devices – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ

The buzz around biotechnology investing that could be felt this year at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference could reach the beleaguered medical-device sector as well.

But it won’t be a spate of IPOs—and the headlines they generate–that re-ignites interest in device companies, several investors said.

“What we are really hoping to see in 2013 are great new products approved, and put on the market,” said Ryan Drant, a general partner at New Enterprise Associates and a board member at the Medical Device Manufacturers Association.

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Backed By New Partnerships With Humana, Aetna & Verizon, Blueprint Health Debuts Its Third Class Of Healthcare Disruptors – TechCrunch

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it one bajillion times. If you’re going to start a business accelerator, don’t clone Y Combinator or TechStars. Find a niche. With the glut of new accelerators today, the most successful are building vertical-specific approaches that bring together seed capital with meaningful industry partnerships to create real business (and learning) opportunities for their startups. Lately, digital health has been leading the way in this regard, as Rock Health, Healthbox, New York Digital Health Accelerator, DreamIt Health and Startup Health are all beginning to blossom.

One of the veterans (a relative term) of this space is the NYC-based Blueprint Health, an accelerator that got its start in 2011 and launched its first batch in January of last year. Today, the accelerator is announcing its third batch of startups as part of its Winter Program, which kicks off on Monday.

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Blueprint Health’s new class shows there are still plenty of new ideas in the digital health pipeline – MedCity News

Another day, another class of digital health startups. That’s how it feels sometimes, with so many accelerators working with dozens of new companies each year. While there are plenty of “me-too” startups entering crowded markets, accelerators are still managing to find some fresh and interesting gems.

Blueprint Health’s winter program kicks off this week with the addition of Verizon, Humana and Aetna as partners, as TechCrunch reports. It’s also brought on mentors from powerhouses like the Cleveland Clinic, Optum, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Weight Watchers.

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Medical device is “sector darling” when it comes to healthcare VC deals in fourth quarter – MedCity News

There might be a lot of griping about how tight the venture capital world is when it comes to funding medical devices, but reality seems to be spinning a different yarn altogether.

A new funding report from CB Insights, a venture capital database, describes the medical device industry as the “sector darling” of VCs who invested in healthcare in the fourth quarter of 2012. In fact medical device deals comprised 42 percent of the overall number of healthcare deals done in the fourth quarter of last year. By comparison biotech deals stood at 15 percent, drug development at 13 percent and pharmaceuticals at 10 percent.

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FCC gives telehealth $400M boost – Healthcare IT News

The Federal Communications Commission will make $400 million available annually to healthcare providers to expand the development of broadband telehealth networks from a pilot to a permanent program. The pilot program has supported 50 provider healthcare networks in 38 states.

The telehealth networks will link urban medical centers to rural clinics or offer instant access to electronic health records (EHRs). The agency will begin accepting applications for the grants in late summer, according to the Jan. 7 announcement by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

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Digital Health Nabbed $1.4B in Venture Funds Last Year, Report Finds – iHealthBeat

Venture capitalists invested $1.4 billion in digital health companies in 2012, according to a report from Rock Health, FierceHealthIT reports (Gold, FierceHealthIT, 1/8).

The figure represents a 45% increase from the $986 million invested in 2011. In addition, the total number of venture capital deals in the digital health sector increased by 56% between 2011 and 2012.

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Maryland Tedco restructures grant programs – Baltimore Business Journal

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (Tedco) is restructuring some of its grant programs and taking on oversight responsibilities for others. The changes are in line with the organization’s effort to focus more on supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. Here are some of the changes:

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USM looking for a new Director for the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research

IBBR (www.ibbr.umd.edu) is a joint research institute, which brings together partner institutions including the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP); University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB); and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The next Director will have the opportunity to recruit faculty and staff, acquire needed instrumentation for transformational research, develop new and innovative technological solutions, and create partnerships with commercial entities to facilitate translation to clinical practice.

The University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are seeking an outstanding individual to serve as Director of the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) with the vision of making IBBR a premier biotechnology research institute. A primary role of the new Director will be to lead and significantly expand a joint NIST/UM research effort that combines basic, measurement and translational research for the development, manufacturing and standardization of advanced therapeutics and supporting diagnostics.

For more information: Position Description

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Emergent Biosolutions (EBS) Acquires Commercial Rights To Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Candidate – iStockAnalyst.com

Emergent Biosolutions Inc. said it has secured exclusive right to manufacture and sell VaxInnate Corp.’s pandemic influenza vaccine candidate in the United States.

Under a license agreement with VaxInnate, Emergent Biosolutions acquired exclusive U.S. commercial rights to next generation pandemic influenza vaccine candidate.

This license enables Emergent to fulfill the requirement to secure a pandemic influenza vaccine candidate under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the company noted.

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CytImmune and AstraZeneca to Research Potential New Nanomedicine – FierceBiotech

CytImmune and AstraZeneca have entered into an agreement to study the feasibility of a new cancer nanomedicine that will bind an oncology compound from AstraZeneca to CytImmune’s CYT-6091 nanomedicine platform.

CYT-6091, which is comprised of gold nanoparticles bound with an immune avoiding molecule (PEG-Thiol) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF), has been successfully tested at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD in a phase I clinical trial in advanced-stage cancer patients. As seen in that study, the gold nanoparticles trafficked to tumors, not to healthy tissue, resulting in an improvement in the safety of systemically administered TNF formulated as CYT-6091.

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Commentary: How Maryland can pull a tech trifecta in 2013 – The Washington Post

Maryland policymakers have taken encouraging steps the past two years to strengthen the state’s technology and life sciences economy.

Two years ago, they expanded access to capital for early-, mid- and late-stage growth companies through the InvestMaryland program.

Last year, they accelerated the transfer of novel technologies from universities into the hands of private companies through the Maryland Innovation Initi

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Man meets machine at Johns Hopkins – Healthcare IT News

"Disease is too complex to just think your way through it," says Raimond Winslow, director of The Institute for Computational Medicine at Johns Hopkins. "We can no longer work with what I call purely mental models of how biological systems function in either health or disease."

Thankfully, we have technology to lend a hand.

The burgeoning and highly complex field of computational medicine is showing promise for the treatment of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer and more, as technology and troves of data are harnessed to investigate the underpinnings and map the progression of diseases.

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New Enterprise Associates raises most among VC firms in 2012 – Baltimore Business Journal

New Enterprise Associates raised the most money of any venture capital firm in 2012.

New Enterprise, headquartered in Chevy Chase and has a Timonium office, raised $2.6 billion last year. That topped the 182 venture capital firms that raised a total of $20.6 billion in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. That dollar figure was up 10 percent from 2011.

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QIAGEN adds to pipeline of personalized healthcare diagnostics through agreements for promising new biomarkers

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced three separate agreements that add multiple biomarkers to QIAGEN’s deep development pipeline of diagnostics for Personalized Healthcare applications to guide treatments with various medicines based on a patient’s genomic information.

QIAGEN intends to develop new diagnostics to guide treatment decisions (including companion diagnostics paired with medicines) based on these biomarkers for use in therapeutic areas such as rheumatoid arthritis, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Most of these assays will be designed to run on the QIAsymphony RGQ modular laboratory workflow automation system as well as QIAGEN’s next-generation sequencing workflows currently in development. By guiding treatment decisions for specific therapies in individual patients, the use of these biomarkers as companion diagnostics can help improve patient outcomes and better utilize healthcare resources.

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UMBC Life Sciences Startup Launching First Product

Life sciences company Plasmonix will begin selling its first product, QuantArray, early this year. The Baltimore County startup plans to commercialize two other products later in 2013, the QuantaWell 100 and the Quanta NP, and will seek $2 million to $3 million for another round of financing, CEO William Gjust says.

Plasmonix’ develops support tools to detect cells in medical research and clinical diagnostics by enhancing luminescent and fluorescent signals using metal nanoparticles. QuantArray, its latest product, has various applications in performing assays, a test that analyzes components, and enhances luminescent signals hundred-fold over conventional methods. The technology can be be applied not only in the life sciences, but also apparel, paint and cosmetics. 

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Tech Council of Maryland calls for R&D, biotech tax credit boost – Washington Business Journal

The Tech Council of Maryland called on legislators Monday to triple the funding for the state’s research and development tax credit and double the scope of its popular biotech tax credit, among other measures.

The Tech Council of Maryland places the expansion of the R&D credit from $6 million to $18 million among its top priorities for the 2013 General Assembly session, which convenes in Annapolis on Wednesday. The measure failed to win approval last year despite passing the Senate. The Tech Council also wants to see that credit made available for companies that haven’t yet reached profitability.

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MacroGenics could get $1B payday – Washington Business Journal

Rockville-based MacroGenics Inc. has struck a drug development deal with Gilead Sciences Inc. that could ultimately be worth $1 billion.

The licensing agreement is for the development and potential commercialization for drugs directed at up to four undisclosed targets.

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GSK ranked first among global pharmaceuticals

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been ranked first among global pharmaceuticals companies assessed for their efforts to improve access to medicine in developing countries, in the 2012 Access to Medicine (ATM) Index released recently by the Access to Medicine Foundation.

An independent initiative, the Access to Medicine Index ranks the world’s 20 largest companies according to their efforts to make their products more available, affordable and accessible in developing countries, highlighting policy and practice that either facilitate or hinder access to medicine.

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SBIR changes taking effect in January – BioCentury.com

The U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) published a final rule on Thursday that will implement changes to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, such as eligibility criteria that now includes companies that are majority-owned by multiple domestic VCs. The rule is implementing the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act, which was signed into law this year and extended the SBIR program through Sept. 30, 2017. The changes take effect on Jan. 28, 2013 (see BioCentury, Oct. 17, 2011).

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Johns Hopkins receives funding for cholera vaccine initiative

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was awarded a four-year, $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote the effective use of oral cholera vaccine around the world. The Delivering Oral Vaccine Effectively (DOVE) program will provide relief agencies and governments with technical assistance on how to use oral cholera vaccine, evaluate current vaccine-use practices and develop new field surveillance methods for monitoring and controlling outbreaks of the disease.

Cholera is an infectious disease caused by drinking unsanitary water. The disease is estimated to be responsible for between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths worldwide each year and infects as many as 2.5 million people annually. The oral cholera vaccine is over 70 percent effective and costs $1.85 per dose, but is not yet widely used in preventing outbreaks.

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HHS Announces $1.9M for Six New Telehealth Resource Centers – iHealthBeat

HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration has announced plans to distribute $1.9 million for the creation of six telehealth resource centers, mHIMSS reports (Wicklund, mHIMSS, 1/3).

About the Grants HRSA is administering the grants through the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program, which provides funding to projects that use telehealth networks to improve health care services (Roney, Becker’s Hospital Review, 1/4).

The grants will help launch five regional centers and one national center.

HRSA will administer grants of up to:

• $325,000 for each regional center; and
• $300,000 for the national center.

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Small Business Administration Final SBIR Rules

On December 27, 2012, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule to amend regulations governing eligibility for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs and to implement provisions of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011. The Reauthorization was included in the FY12 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which reauthorized the SBIR Program for six years and now allows small firms that are majority-owned by venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds, or private equity firms to compete for SBIR grants.

This advisory briefly summarizes the most important changes to the SBIR eligibility rules and discusses how investments in or acquisitions of SBIR-funded companies may be affected.

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Microscopic Battlefield: Watch as a Killer T Cell Attacks a Cancer Cell – Open Culture

Every day, inside our body, there is a war going on. Microscopic invaders of one kind or another try to make a meal of us, and our immune system fights back, seeking out the invaders and destroying them. One of our body’s most important foot-soldiers in this war is the T cell, a type of white blood cell with receptors that can recognize foreign substances. Like all white blood cells, T cells originate in the bone marrow, but then they migrate to an organ called the thymus (hence the “T” in “T cell”), where they evolve into specialized immune system warriors. Mature T cells, which leave the thymus and circulate around the body, come in different types. One type, the cytotoxic T cell, specializes in attacking and killing cells of the body that are infected by viruses, bacteria, or cancer.

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AthenaHealth buys Epocrates for $293M – mobihealthnews

AthenaHealth, a provider of cloud-based EHR and practice management software, announced a definitive agreement to acquireEpocrates, a popular mobile medical app provider, for about $293 million in cash. Epocrates agreed to the offer, which was specifically $11.75 per share, a 22 percent premium over Epocrates closing price last Friday. Piper Jaffray & Co. and Cooley advised Epocrates on the deal, while Goodwin Procter served as Athena’s legal counsel.

Last May, following remarks made by AthenaHealth CEO Jonathan Bush, MobiHealthNews speculated as to whether the company might be considering an acquisition of Epocrates. (See: Why AthenaHealth might buy Epocrates.) At the time Bush noted how popular Epocrates was among hundreds of thousands of physicians who use the app to look up drug information on their mobiles before writing prescriptions. He also said that while his company may not be interested in Epocrates product itself, but they “sure would like to be in front of 200,000 doctors”.

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AstraZeneca’s Waltham unit aims to use gold nanoparticles to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors – The Boston Globe

The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca­ is expected to announce this week that its oncology unit in Waltham is collaborating with a Maryland company to develop an innovative cancer therapy. The proposed treatment involves delivering powerful cancer drugs on the backs of gold nanoparticles made by CytImmune, of Rockville, Md., that are so tiny 5,000 of them can fit in the width of a human hair.

At that size, the gold flecks make a particularly good vehicle because they can easily carry other molecules, like cancer drugs. They are also believed safe to use in the body.

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New Atlantic Ventures launches new VC fund – Washington Business Journal

Reston-based New Atlantic Ventures, which invests in technology start-ups, has launched its fourth venture capital fund.

The New Atlantic Venture Fund IV expects to raise $125 million, with its first investors contributing $42.5 million in the fund’s initial sale last week.

New Atlantic Ventures currently holds stakes in more than two dozen start-ups, including six in the Washington area. It currently has $230 million in capital under management.

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Happy New Year from BioHealth Innovation

Below are BioHealth Innovation News’ most popular articles form 2012:

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Names Todd Chappell Its First Entrepreneur-in-Residence at National Institutes of Health Office of Technology Transfer

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Signs Partnership Intermediary Agreement with National Institutes of Health’s Office of Technology Transfer

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GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY ANNOUNCES $84 MILLION IN INVESTMENT FOR MARYLAND’S INNOVATION ECONOMY

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Statement of Richard A. Bendis Before the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation entitled,“Fostering the U.S. Competitive Edge: Examining the Effect of Federal Policies on Competition, Innovation, and Job Growth”

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Why we need a Federal Lab Innovation Authority: Unlocking Our Federal Lab Resources for Economic Growth

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Appoints Qiagen’s Douglas Liu to Board of Directors

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Names Richard Bendis President & Chief Executive Officer

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Montgomery panel favors $500,000 for biotech tax credit

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The Chief Science Officer (CSO) Development Training Certificate Program

Maryland is in an enviable position with regard to biotechnology-related resources that encourages and supports entrepreneurial efforts. Academic institutions, federal laboratories, a committed county department of economic development and a unique small business have developed an effective consortium to leverage these resources. The potential for human capital to support this entrepreneurial growth is further augmented by the number of graduate and postdoctoral programs available in the region.

Ironically, a significant steady decrease in the availability of academic positions for new graduate and post-graduate level scientists has created an additional talent resource pool for new and existing biotechnology companies. Despite these significant human capital resources, traditional academic graduate and post-graduate training do not focus on teaching the business leadership and management skills that are required to attain successful industry scientist-level positions. This confluence of circumstances was the catalyst for a unique and highly synergistic consortium to help remedy this situation

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NATIONAL BIOECONOMY BLUEPRINT

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National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to Establish NHLBI Centers for Accelerated Innovations

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QIAGEN Acquires AmniSure International to Add Unique Assay to Emerging Point of Need Portfolio – MarketWatch

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Economic Alliance names Venable’s Baader as board chair – Baltimore Business Journal

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Leggett to Hail Success of County’s Local Biotech Investment Tax Credit Program

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The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School presents Making a Quantum Leap in Technology Transfer

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc., Appoints Board of Directors, Names MedImmune’s Scott Carmer as Chairman

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Creating Jobs and Saving Lives in Maryland – From Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s April 2012 Newsletter

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BioBuzz Rockville – April 25. 2012

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Hopkins grants nanotechnology license to NexImmune – Baltimore Business Journal

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University of Maryland BioPark Announces MedImmune’s Dr. Bahija Jallal as Newest Member of Board of Directors for UM Health Sciences Research Park

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Tech Transfer Speakers Series – May 9th

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Ablitech Hires Director for Research Advisory Board

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Beyond the Stethoscope–How MD-MBAs Influence the Current Challenges in Healthcare

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County, Business Execs, Tout Biotech Tax Credit – Gaithersburg, MD Patch

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NHLBI Mid-Atlantic Innovation Conference – October 15, 2012

This conference brings together small businesses, angel investors, venture capitalists, strategic partners, and business leaders from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It will feature presentations by top NHLBI SBIR- funded companies with innovative technologies on the brink of commercialization, an expert panel of investors, and opportunities for partnering and networking. Information about the NHLBI Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination, changes in the SBIR/STTR program re-authorization, and other funding opportunities and resources will be presented. NHLBI staff will be available to provide advice to applicants and awardees.

The NHLBI provides global leadership for research, training, and education to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders and to enhance the health of allindividuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.

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Maryland venture capital program to award three firms $100,000 each in entrepreneur contest – Washington Business Journal

Maryland will be giving away $300,000 to promising entrepreneurs in a business competition.

The contest, called the InvestMaryland Challenge, is part of the state’s venture capital initiative that raised $84 million for seed and early-stage companies earlier this year.

The competition’s prize is $100,000 for the most impressive companies in three categories: information technology, life sciences and general.

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Gaithersburg Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals wins FDA approval for eye treatment – Washington Business Journal

Gaithersburg-based Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday it has won Food and Drug Administration approval for Cystaran, which treats a symptom of the rare genetic eye disease Cystinosis.

Cystaran, an FDA-designated orphan drug with seven years guaranteed market exclusivity, was co-developed with the National Institutes of Health. The drug treats the accumulation of crystals of the amino acid cystine in the cornea resulting from Cystinosis, a disease that affects an estimated 2,000 people worldwide, according to the Cystinosis Research Network.

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Maryland expands stem cell grants to private companies – Baltimore Business Journal

Private companies will now be able to apply for their own research grants from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission said Thursday it would begin accepting applications for $10.4 million in research grants to be awarded in 2013. The commission this year added a new funding category — pre-clinical and clinical grants — designed to support for-profit companies. Private companies previously could qualify for grants through the research fund if they were working jointly with another research entity, such as a university.

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Hopkins doctors make new ear for woman on her arm

A woman has a new ear, thanks to a mind-blowing procedure performed at Johns Hopkins.

42-year old Sherri Walter had cancer on her ear and it had to be removed, as well as many of the structures inside her head.

Doctors decided to make her a whole new ear.

They took cartilage from her ribs and they shaped it into an ear. They then took that cartilage and put it under her forearm.

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UMD and UMB "MPower the State" with New Collaborative School of Public Health :: University Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) today announced a collaborative school of public health that will give graduate students at both institutions expanded opportunities in public health education, research, service, and training.

The announcement was made at a news conference (see below) hosted by University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor William Kirwan, PhD, at the USM offices in Adelphi. UMD and UMB have begun the national accreditation process as one initiative of their University of Maryland: MPowering the State collaboration approved by the USM Board of Regents on March 1, 2012.

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Regional cooperation cited as key for biotech industry to thrive | Daily Progress

Biotech companies in Virginia, Maryland and Washington are better served by meeting challenges as a region, industry experts say.

One reason, according to Peter Greenleaf, president of MedImmune, is that as with many other industries, biotech is facing increasing pressure from Asian companies and investors.

In 2011, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley appointed Greenleaf chairman of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority. MedImmune is affiliated with AstraZeneca, based in Gaithersburg, Md., and is one of the region’s largest biotech companies.

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Pitch Across Maryland Tops Expectations | Baltimore Citybizlist

After more than two weeks crisscrossing the state with stops in Ocean City, La Plata, Hagerstown and pretty much everywhere in between, the bright yellow Pitch Across Maryland bus rolled into Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on Friday.

There was music, booze, advice for entrepreneurs and, of course, more business pitches in the make-shift studio in the back of the bus.

Organizers expected to collect 40 or so pitches total at the 25 stops across the state when the bus pulled out of Columbia on Sept. 11 to start the tour.

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Maryland: A Hotbed for Startups « Governor O’Malley’s Blog

We wanted to share this blog from the co-chairs of Startup Maryland where they talk about their experiences on the first-ever “Pitch Across Maryland” tour meeting entrepreneurs and discovering all that the State of Maryland has to offer for small businesses and startups.

Entrepreneurs are renowned for coming up with what seems like crazy ideas and making them reality. The big yellow bus wrapped in the Maryland state flag that has been traversing the state is a perfect example.

The idea was hatched at the Startup America national summit in January – someone from another state talked about raising money for an entrepreneur bus tour  but that bus never left the depot. To the contrary, the Startup Maryland Pitch Across Maryland bus put rubber to the road September 11th and has been rolling across the state – 26 stops in all – ever since. This Friday marks theLast Stop on the tour with a celebration at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but it is also the First Step in shining the spotlight on the incredible entrepreneurs we’ve met along the way.

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Nurturing Success: Growth in Store for Towson Incubator

When Clay Hickson talks about technology and innovation, he isn’t limiting himself to IT, biotechnology or robotics. The executive director of Towson University’s TowsonGlobal Business Incubator is also talking about Transcending Cosmetics, a recent TowsonGlobal graduate that developed a line of long-lasting concealers for scars that comes in a range of skin colors. Another TowsonGlobal graduate, NeWo Technology, makes wearable sensors to monitor the body’s vital signs and send them to a coach or athletic trainer.

Hickson is helping the university position itself as the go-to place for regional technology startups as TowsonGlobal plans to more than double in size. Hickson was also elected president of the Maryland Business Incubator Association in August. 

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San Francisco Becomes Leading Center of Innovation in Health Care and Biosciences

UCSF and its affiliates have been successful in the transformation of San Francisco as a leading center of innovation in health care and biosciences, according to a new report released Wednesday.

The combined economic impact of hospitals, biomedical research and health sciences education generates $16.7 billion and more than 100,000 jobs per year — almost one in five jobs in the City and County of San Francisco, according to the report by economist Philip King, PhD, an assistant professor at San Francisco State University.

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it could BE different: The Path to More Failed Therapeutics

Ask a committee of 16 academics, 3 bureaucrats, 2 Fortune 500 executives and 1 Venture Capitalist to provide the President of the United States with a report on improving drug development in the US and they call in a panel of experts consisting of 14 academics, 9 bureaucrats, 12 Fortune 500 execs, 2 venture capitalists and 2 lawyers resulting in: "Report to the President on Propelling Innovation in Drug Discovery , Development and Evaluation".

The recently released report is devoid of any whisper of the existence of entrepreneurs and start-ups. It suggests that more basic research funding, a more efficient drug approval process and longer terms of patent coverage will mysteriously result in more and better therapeutics reaching market.

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Can Technology Solve America’s Healthcare Problems?

Healthcare is a hot-button issue in America right now -– partly because it’s election season and partly because our healthcare system faces some legitimately major problems. On this episode of The Valley Girl Show, we sit down with Dr. Robert Pearl, the executive director and CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, to discuss the role that technology will play in the future of healthcare. And he is optimistic about new developments.

Pearl also talks about Kaiser Permanente’s iPhone apps, which are designed to help patients manage their care. One allows you full access to your personal medical record, and another lets you schedule and modify or cancel appointments. It also can push messages or alerts if, for example, you have allergies and the pollen count is high.

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NHLBI Mid-Atlantic Innovation Conference – Investors register to attend

This conference brings together small businesses, angel investors, venture capitalists, strategic partners, and business leaders from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It will feature presentations by top NHLBI SBIR- funded companies with innovative technologies on the brink of commercialization, an expert panel of investors, and opportunities for partnering and networking. Information about the NHLBI Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination, changes in the SBIR/STTR program re-authorization, and other funding opportunities and resources will be presented. NHLBI staff will be available to provide advice to applicants and awardees.

The NHLBI provides global leadership for research, training, and education to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders and to enhance the health of allindividuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.

The investor perspectives panel will feature a distinguished panel of experts from the investor community, including representatives from NEA, Noble BioVentures, MedImmune and the Maryland Biotechnology Center.

Click Here to Register »

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NEA’s JIm Barrett: Drug innovation should be rewarded, even if it means higher prices – Washington Business Journal

Society needs to “take seriously the rewards for innovators” through the patent system to improve the biotech investing climate, New Enterprise Associates Inc. General Partner James Barrett said Thursday.

Speaking before a crowd at the Mid-Atlantic BIO conference, held in Bethesda this week by the MdBio division of the Tech Council of Maryland, VaBio and the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, Barrett voiced a defense of stronger intellectual property protections for bio entrepreneurs.

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University of Maryland Dingman Center Ranks Among Nation’s Best in Entrepreneurship for Undergrads and MBAs

The University of Maryland is one of the best in the nation for entrepreneurship education, according to a ranking published today by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The university’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business is recognized for its leading entrepreneurship programs for undergraduate and graduate students, ranking No. 14 and No. 24 respectively. The Dingman Center is a major driver of entrepreneurship education on campus and in the region, championing programs for students, faculty and area entrepreneurs. It was the only program in the Washington-Baltimore region recognized on either list.

The Dingman Center, located at the Smith School, helps lead the university’s entrepreneurship efforts and is recognized nationally for its innovative teaching methods that combine classroom activities, practical experience and cultural immersion programs. The center’s programs include:

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BrainScope lands first $250,000 InvestMaryland investment – Washington Business Journal

Bethesda-based BrainScope is the first recipient of capital financing from InvestMaryland.

The deal was announced by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley Tuesday.

BrianScope will receive the first $250,000 investment from the venture capital program to further spearhead neurotechnology to quickly assess traumatic brain injury at the initial point of care.

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Maryland biotech executives home in on capital

Maryland’s young biotechs hoping to spark interest in investment and partnerships will be among the 750-plus industry, state and venture capital executives expected to attend the annual Mid-Atlantic Biotech Conference in North Bethesda on Thursday and Friday.

After three years of trying to snag a pitch presentation slot at the conference, CC Biotech in Rockville will be among the companies vying for investor attention this week.

At least 13 Maryland biotechs will be presenting this year in both startup and early-stage levels.

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InvestMarylandChallenge

Are you an entrepreneur in need of a jump start?

The InvestMaryland Challenge is a national seed and early-stage business competition hosted by the State of Maryland. The Challenge will award $300,000 in grants and a host of business services to companies in the life sciences and high tech industries. Companies also have the opportunity to receive direct investments from venture capital firms and angel investors.

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TruBios, LLC Creates a New Company, CERCA Solutions, to Help Save Women’s Lives ‹ Hopkins Happenings

What if you had the power to save a life? What would you do with it? How would you share it?

J. Roberto Trujillo, President & CEO, TruBios, LLC, which is located on the university’s Montgomery County Campus, is working diligently to answer these tough questions as he sets a lofty goal for his company and its affiliates and subsidiaries: to eradicate all viral diseases in the Americas within the next 38 years. He and his colleagues call this goal Project 2050. One of the first diseases they’re targeting is cervical cancer.

According to Trujillo, 80% of cervical cancer cases can be found in developing countries where the resources needed to treat these kinds of diseases are scarce.

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United Therapeutics Announces Collaboration With Ascendis Pharma To Develop Self-Injectable Treprostinil For Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension | News | Medical Design Technology

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Ascendis Pharma A/S to apply Ascendis Pharma’s proprietary TransCon technology platform to United Therapeutics’ treprostinil molecule, the active ingredient in Remodulin® (treprostinil) injection.  United Therapeutics believes that the TransCon technology platform may enable a controlled, long-acting release of a novel, carrier-linked product, significantly enhancing the delivery profile of treprostinil by establishing a self-injectable alternative for patients who currently use the drug via a continuous infusion pump for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

"We are thrilled to enter into this license agreement with Ascendis Pharma," said Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D., United Therapeutics’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "The potential to bring another novel therapeutic option to PAH patients represents an exciting new opportunity for Remodulin delivery as we constantly re-charge our mission to better the lives of patients suffering from PAH."

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Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Emerging Technology Center Launch the Second AccelerateBaltimore

Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) announced the launch of the second AccelerateBaltimore program in partnership with the Abell Foundation. The program will start accepting applications in early October 2012, and the accelerator will begin in February 2013 with up to 6 companies—a 50% increase from the first AccelerateBaltimore program.  

With the Abell Foundation as the funding partner and the ETC providing the program support services, the first AccelerateBaltimore was launched in April 2012. It was the first business accelerator in Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. The goal of AccelerateBaltimore is to help technology companies meet the challenges facing a start-up and get to market quickly.

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Adventist HealthCare regroups after Maryland setback – Washington Business Journal

Adventist HealthCare hopes an improved economy and a possible asset sale will make the difference when it tries again to secure Maryland regulatory approval to move Washington Adventist Hospital from Takoma Park to White Oak.

But the clock is ticking. The 105-year-old hospital is on pace to lose money this year as revenue continues to decline, which hospital President Joyce Newmyer said is partly a reflection of the increasingly untenable problems faced at its current location, which executives say is too cramped and isolated to accommodate health care reforms.

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University of Md. promotes Elana Fine to managing director of Dingman Center – Baltimore Business Journal

The University of Maryland’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship has promoted Elana Fine to managing director.

Fine joined the Dingman Center, part of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, in 2010 as director of venture investments and was promoted to associate director in January.

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StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour Bus Revs Up Entreprenuerial Spirit

By tour’s end, between 60 and 100 Maryland entrepreneurs will have met the StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour bus now traversing the state to offer an exciting opportunity— to have their ideas heard and possibly realized.

The incandescent yellow and black bus, swathed with the Maryland flag started its tour in Ocean City, Maryland on its way to Baltimore’s Merriweather Pavilion on September 28th, with 20 stops which have already included Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, Chestertown, Wye Mills and Annapolis among others.

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Army awards $2.67M to Bethesda startup to develop miniature device to assess TBI | MedCity News

A Bethesda, Maryland startup BrainScope has been awarded a $2.67 million contract over two years to develop a miniature, hand-held, non-invasive medical devices that can rapidly evaluate traumatic brain injury in the field.

Industry: Medical Devices

Solution/Product: BrainScope has developed the Ahead system to help to triage patients who may have traumatic brain jury, including concussions.

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The NIH Medical Innovation Ecosystem

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has become the world leader in biomedical research because of its unique innovation ecosystem. Read below to learn how funding for the National Institutes of Health strengthens our nation’s health and economy from research laboratories to private industry to patients – the ultimate beneficiaries of medical research.

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Jacoby takes firmer hold of reins at Tech Council of Maryland

For Art Jacoby, the new CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland, the right leadership can be a “game changer.”

Jacoby hopes to be such a catalyst as he assumes this role at the Rockville trade group, which has more than 400 members. The council — which supports Maryland’s 10,000-plus technology businesses, including more than 500 life science businesses — is working to address six areas: education, advocacy, access to capital, access to new markets, community support and membership benefit.

Jacoby takes over from Renée Winsky, who resigned in December after two years. He spent almost eight months as interim CEO before taking the job on a more permanent basis in August.

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SAIC CEO John Jumper speaks on company split, sequestration – Washington Business Journal

After the announcement late last month from Science Applications International Corp. that it will split into two publicly traded companies, CEO John Jumper said Thursday that the spinoff “technical services” company will be located in the Washington area, while the second company is likely remain at its corporate headquarters, an 18-acre Tysons Corner campus.

"It’s reasonable to think that some of them will stay there," Jumper said after speaking at a breakfast event held by the Northern Virginia Technology Council. "It’s reasonable to assume that the other company will be somewhere in the Washington area. … It’s very safe to say it’ll be very close to where we are right now.

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Pharmaceutical Firms Widen Search for Medicines – Technology Review

The drug company GlaxoSmithKline employs 12,687 people in its research and development division to search for and test new drugs. Despite that huge staff, around half of the company’s $6.3 billion R&D budget goes to people who don’t work for Glaxo at all.

The money instead flows to companies like Epizyme, a small biotechnology firm that, since last year, has received $24 million from Glaxo to support research on a novel type of cancer drug. That’s money the biotech firm needs to survive, and if its efforts yield a drug, that would be a success for Glaxo, too.

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NCATS Collaborative Project Wins Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer

A collaborative research team, including nine experts from NCATS, was honored last month for its work on an investigational treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC), a rare genetic disease of cholesterol storage that eventually leads to neurodegeneration. Comprising investigators from four NIH institutes and one pharmaceutical company, the team won the Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for its work with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) as a potential treatment for NPC ― a disease for which there are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies.

It is the first award of its kind to NCATS, recognizing laboratory employees and their partners who have outstanding accomplishments in transferring federally developed technology to the marketplace. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) of the mid-Atlantic region presented the award to the investigators at a ceremony on Aug. 30, 2012, in Cambridge, Md.

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University of Maryland moves forward with joint public health school – Baltimore Business Journal

University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park are moving forward with plans for a collaborative school of public health, administrators said Tuesday.

The two schools have begun the national accreditation process for a single public health school. The move would combine their individual public health schools in an effort to pool resources and expand opportunities for students.

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University of Maryland ranks high for entrepreneurship programs – Washington Business Journal

The University of Maryland, College Park ranks among the top 25 schools in the U.S. for its entrepreneurship programs.

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine compiled the rankings by reviewing more than 2,000 schools’ levels of commitment to entrepreneurship; the percentage of their faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors; and the number and reach of their mentorship programs. Funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects, and their support for school-sponsored business plan competitions were also considered.

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Program aims to teach scientists to talk business | Working at JHU | Gazette | Hub

When Lynn Johnson Langer, a faculty member in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ Advanced Academic Programs, began her career as a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health, one of the first things that struck her was the dichotomy between business and science.

“Businesspeople and scientists didn’t speak each other’s language,” Langer says. “They didn’t always respect each other.”

When she transitioned out of NIH and into the business world, she further saw just how far apart the two worlds were, and how seldom the two seemed able to “play nicely in the sandbox.”

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AHRQ Seeks To Help Patients Report Adverse Medical Events – iHealthBeat

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is seeking approval from the White House for a prototype of a reporting system that would encourage patients to report medical mistakes and unsafe practices by health care providers, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 9/22).

AHRQ already has funded the development of the prototype patient reporting system. The agency is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget to test the prototype’s efficacy (iHealthBeat, 9/10).

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TB Vaccine Accelerator

The TB Vaccine Accelerator, a program to strengthen the pipeline of tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidates and enable a more rational and accelerated vaccine development process, is launching a grant opportunity that is part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health—a large set of grant programs aimed at overcoming persistent bottlenecks that prevent the creation of effective health solutions for the developing world.

This grant opportunity, the first public request for applications (RFA) launched by the TB Vaccine Accelerator, focuses on two interrelated program goals:

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Maryland to award $300,000 as part of entrepreneur contest – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland will be giving away $300,000 to promising entrepreneurs as part of a business competition.

The InvestMaryland Challenge is part of the state’s venture capital initiative that raised $84 million for seed and early stage companies earlier this year. The challenge will award $100,000 prizes to the most impressive companies in three categories: information technology, life sciences and general.

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Richest Counties in America slideshow – Washington Business Journal

No. 10: Montgomery County — Median Household Income of $92,909

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Top 10 Cities for Computer Science Majors slideshow – Washington Business Journal

No. 1: Washington, D.C. The federal government puts Washington on the top of this list. Or to be bore accurate: Companies that do business with the federal government put the region on top of this list.

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Maryland Biotechnology Center Opens Applications for Up to $200K in Individual Awards | Baltimore Citybizlist

The Maryland Biotechnology Center, an office of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, opened the application process for its FY 2013 biotechnology development awards. Since 2010, the program has made nearly two dozen awards totaling $4.5 million to Maryland companies.  The deadline to apply for the awards that range from $50,000 to $200,000 is October 17 and applications are available online here.

“Though we’re just entering the third year of our awards program, it already has enabled organizations to begin translating their research to reality,” said Dr. Judith Britz, Executive Director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center. “Because of our award, companies like Telcare are partnering with industry leaders like QualComm and are able to attract significantly larger private investments.”

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Tech Council of Maryland quietly promotes Jacoby to top spot – Baltimore Business Journal

Art Jacoby’s turn as chief of the Tech Council of Maryland was intended as a stop-gap gig, meant to fill the interregnum between the departure of the Old Boss and the arrival of the New Boss. This summer, the council’s board quietly made Jacoby the New Boss, dropping the “interim” of his job description.

Perhaps his promotion didn’t merit an announcement because, practically, nothing had really changed. Since his arrival in January, Jacoby has never really acted like anything but the full-time CEO.

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MedImmune, WuXi AppTec to develop new biologic for China – Pharmaceutical Business Review

AstraZeneca biologics arm MedImmune and WuXi AppTec have formed a joint venture (JV) to develop and commercialize MEDI5117, a new biologic for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases for China.

As part of the JV, MedImmune will provide technical and development support while WuXi AppTec will provide local regulatory, manufacturing, pre-clinical and clinical trial support.

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QIAGEN Teams with China’s Lepu Medical to Provide Rapid Diagnosis of Heart Attacks Using Point of Need Testing

QIAGEN N.V.  today announced an agreement with Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., a leading medical device company in China, to provide QIAGEN’s ESEQuant Lateral Flow System for use in emergency rooms with Lepu’s tests for cardiac markers that diagnose acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). The agreement expands QIAGEN’s presence in China and adds a new point of need diagnostics application.

China’s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved the ESEQuant Lateral Flow detection system with Lepu Medical’s five cardiac marker tests. Lepu will market the system in China under the name LEPU Quant-Gold. Globally, this is the first regulatory approval in human healthcare for QIAGEN’s pioneering ESEQuant platform which was acquired in 2010.

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MedImmune preparing for Gaithersburg campus expansion

Representatives for Gaithersburg biotech company MedImmune hinted at an expansion of their campus at a mayor and council work session Monday evening.

Medimmune Executive Vice President of Operations Andy Skibo mentioned a “need to reassess how space is divided” on MedImmune’s Gaithersburg campus. “There are no specific construction plans at this time,” he said, though the company is working on a master plan with the city.

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Nancy Floreen to talk economic development at White House – Maryland Politics – The Washington Post

Montgomery County Council member Nancy Floreen has been invited by the White House to attend a special forum on economic development, the county announced Tuesday.

The conference, which will take place next Wednesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, will bring together U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, senior White House officials, business leaders and municipal government officials to discuss effective economic development strategies.

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TEDCO awards $1.2M to 16 area startups – Baltimore Business Journal

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. awarded almost $1.2 million to 16 Maryland startups in its latest round of funding.

The funding, through TEDCO’s Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund, is aimed at helping early-stage companies commercialize products they have developed working with universities and federal laboratories in Maryland.

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StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour Bus Revs Up Entreprenuerial Spirit

By tour’s end, between 60 and 100 Maryland entrepreneurs will have met the StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour bus now traversing the state to offer an exciting opportunity— to have their ideas heard and possibly realized.

The incandescent yellow and black bus, swathed with the Maryland flag started its tour in Ocean City, Maryland on its way to Baltimore’s Merriweather Pavilion on September 28th, with 20 stops which have already included Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, Chestertown, Wye Mills and Annapolis among others.

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For young Md. immigrants, a path out of the shadows – The Washington Post

They call themselves “shadows” — young Maryland residents brought to this country as children by their parents.

They worked hard. They excelled in our public schools. They want to go to college so they can be more productive members of our workforce. They do not ask for a free ride. Yet they remain shadows because their parents came without immigration papers. The Maryland Dream Act would bring these young people into daylight.

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Entrepreneurs Invited to Get on the Bus and Celebrate Their Innovations and Businesses During the Pitch Across Maryland Tour

Startup Maryland Teams with Regional Innovation Stakeholder to Co-Host Tour Stops Across the State of Maryland

Startup Maryland is launching Pitch Across Maryland, a state-wide startup tour and business pitch competition. Taking place September 11 – 28, this two and a half week tour across the state will travel from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland; from Cecil County to St. Mary’s County; from the Baltimore Beltway and the DC Beltway — and everywhere in between.

The bus will travel the state to visit incubators, economic development agencies and universities—all in the name of celebrating entrepreneurship.  At each stop, Startup Maryland will hold rallies sharing information about the incredible entrepreneurial resources across the state and within their region. Additionally, entrepreneurs will get coaching and support from business mentors and other leaders of Maryland’s innovation economy.

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Forbes names Becton, Dickinson one of ‘world’s most innovative’ – Baltimore Business Journal

Apparently, there’s lots of innovation going on up at BD Diagnostic Systems in Sparks.

Forbes listed its New Jersey parent company, Becton, Dickinson & Co., to its list of “World’s Most Innovative Companies” in its latest issue. The medical device company employs 29,000 people total — including 1,600 in Baltimore County. It makes diagnostic equipment for the microbiology and molecular biology industries.

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Vaxin moves from Birmingham to Maryland | al.com

Vaxin Inc., a promising biotech company spun from research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, quietly moved from Innovation Depot to a new home in Maryland as it continues development of vaccines for the flu and anthrax.

The company, founded in 1997, has consolidated its staff and lab space on the East Coast in order to be closer to funding and a number of other vaccine development companies, Chief Executive Bill Enright said Thursday. He said other reasons for the move were to consolidate costs and get closer to the company’s primary source of funding, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Developm

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Tech Council of Maryland MdBio Leadership Breakfast Focuses on Issues of Importance to Maryland’s Biotech Industry – MarketWatch

Peter Greenleaf, president of MedImmune, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, addressed many of the challenges and growth opportunities for Maryland biotech companies at today’s MdBio Leadership Series breakfast, hosted by the Tech Council of Maryland (TCM).

“Maryland is a hotbed of activity in the biotech sector, so changes taking place in the industry — related to competitive threats and growth opportunities — will no doubt have a big impact on businesses based in our state,” said Art Jacoby, TCM’s CEO. “Peter’s remarks this morning provided valuable insight — from not only his role as president of MedImmune, but from the perspective as chairman of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority — into the changes taking place in the biotech market and how companies at all stages can position themselves for success.”

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After growth, MedImmune pushes on midstage pipeline – Washington Business Journal

MedImmune is increasingly concentrating its workforce in Maryland, both through new hires and consolidations from California, as it prepares to take a host of midstage drug candidates through clinical trials.

The Gaithersburg biotech is entering a pivotal period. Its parent, British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca PLC, is laying off employees by the thousands at the same time that it is investing more heavily in its Maryland-based biologics arm.

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Biotechnology Development Grants – FY2013 Awards (up to $200K) Applications Now Available

Deadline to Apply: October 17, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.

The Maryland Biotechnology Center’s (MBC) Biotechnology Development Awards provide funding to advance biotechnology research and development in Maryland along the path to commercialization.   

Applications for the Maryland Biotechnology Center’s FY2013 Biotechnology Development Awards for Biotechnology Commercialization or Translational Research now are available in the column to the left.

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RxAnte gets $4.6M investment – Washington Business Journal

McLean-based RxAnte, developing technologies that help make sure people take their prescription drugs, has received a $4.6 million investment from Aberdare Ventures and West Health Investment.

The company will use the financing to continue development of its technologies and take them to market.

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As Tuberculosis Grows More Difficult to Control, Vaccine Candidate to Prevent Disease Enters Clinical Testing

Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announce today the start of the first clinical trial of IDRI’s novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate, ID93 + GLA-SE. The Phase I clinical trial will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate in 60 healthy adult volunteers. The study will be conducted by Johnson County Clin-Trials in Lenexa, Kansas, in close collaboration with Aeras and IDRI.  

Tuberculosis (TB), which kills more people than any other infectious disease except HIV, has orphaned 10 million children, and costs the global economy an estimated $1 billion every day. An increasing number of diagnosed multidrug-resistant TB cases are making the disease more difficult to control and multiplying the cost and time it takes to treat patients, which can take two years or longer for multidrug-resistant TB.

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Fyodor Biotechnologies Inc Awarded a National

Fyodor Biotechnologies, a Baltimore-based diagnostic and biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the National Science Foundation has awarded the company a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant. With the $150,000 funding, Fyodor plans to develop a novel recombinant antibody to be used in a urine-based test for the point-of-need detection of Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide, potentially serious but treatable bacterial disease that occurs in humans and domestic animals, including pets. The causative bacteria are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water (including swimming pools) or soil, and can survive there for weeks to months. Clinical signs of leptospirosis are nonspecific, and current diagnostic tools rely on complicated testing methods that are unsuitable for use in many point- of-need settings. Therefore, a simple one-step test is urgently needed for rapid diagnosis.

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SureScripts strikes health records deal with Epic – Washington Business Journal

Arlington-based Surescripts will partner with health record-keeping giant Epic Systems Corp. to allow doctors to transfer records between the two patient data networks, the company said Thursday.

Surescripts, which specializes in transmitting prescription data, launched a network for doctors to share all clinical data in 2010. Under the deal announced Thursday, doctors using that network will be able to connect to physicians using Epic’s own network, known as the Care Everywhere interoperability platform.

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Looking for Cures Lost in Translation

In a recent article in Slate magazine’s Future Tense project,  Pascal Zachary made a key observation about the strange estrangement of science from technology in U.S. policy when he wrote:

“Neither candidate will ask, for instance, why taxpayers spend some $30 billion annually to try to understand the basic causes of diseases but virtually nothing on delivering effective new medical therapies to the ill.”

Indeed, over the past 10 years, $340 billion in federal funds have been allocated for basic medical research to improve and lengthen the lives of Americans. But how much money does the government spend actually translating medical science discoveries into workable therapies? Surprisingly little.

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Mapping The Next Three Decades of Health Technology | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

When science fiction films depict the future, the best writers and directors are often less concerned with accurately predicting how specific technologies might reshape the world than they are with confronting the moral or philosophical quandaries of present day. It’s what makes those stories compelling–and relatable. When futurists attempt to tell us how (and when) technology leaps will occur, they’re not only speculating about what we’re capable of achieving in the coming decades but also imploring us to prepare–scientifically and psychologically–for those events.

Envisioning Technology, the firm behind the massive infographic explorations of the future of emerging technology and the future of education technology, is, as you might guess, run by a futurist: Michell Zappa. His most recent visualization maps the next three decades of health technology, charting how regeneration, augmentation, diagnostics, treatments, biogerontology, and telemedicine will change over time. According to ET, the stuff of science fiction–from cryogenics to all-out life extension, from robot health care to 3-D-printed synthetic organs–will be very real before too long.

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U.S. Life-Sciences Valuations Creeping Upward, Law Firm Says – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ

Law firm Fenwick & West, which handles legal issues for a variety of technology companies, has examined 186 venture fundings of U.S.-based companies in the life-sciences sector over the first half of 2012, and found that valuations have ticked upward.

Matt Rossiter, a partner at the firm and co-author of a recent survey on life-sciences deals, said he has also noticed increased involvement in deals by public medical-technology companies, who often turn to start-ups for new innovations.

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The FDA Turns Friendly Toward Pharma in 2012 | Xconomy

The FDA, for most of the past 10 years, was the regulatory agency that many people in biotech and pharma loved to hate. Critics have long complained about bureaucratic foot-dragging, byzantine organization, poor communication, excessive aversion to risk, and arbitrary decisions around whether to approve new drugs for sale in the U.S.

But FDA bashers, at least in the pharmaceutical world, haven’t had much to complain about in 2012. Suddenly the FDA and the pharma industry it regulates look like best pals. The FDA, under commissioner Margaret Hamburg, has been making noise for some time about its desire to not just ensure the safety and effectiveness of the U.S. drug supply, but to also help promote the development of innovative new medicines. This year, the agency has absolutely done everything it can to back up its rhetoric with actions that prove it isn’t an adversary but more of a partner in the development of new medicines.

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Baltimore Innovation Week 2012

Baltimore Innovation Week is a week-long celebration of technology and innovation in Baltimore. The annual week of events is intended to grow the impact of this innovative region through programming focused on technology, collaboration and improving Baltimore.

Baltimore Innovation Week 2012 takes place September 20 to September 29.

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Smith School Launches Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program

A trio of social entrepreneurs with industry success in technology, law and fashion are appointees to the inaugural Social-Entrepreneur-In-Residence team at the Robert H. Smith School of Business Center for Social Value Creation at the University of Maryland.

The appointees are Kim Persons, a partner with the KAP Group and founding president (1999-2010) of Gecko Traders Inc., a manufacturer and global distributor of handbags and women’s fashion accessories; Drew Bewick, managing director of Tree House Ventures, LLC, a technology and innovation consulting firm serving multiple companies and non-profit organizations; and Darius Graham, co-founder of the DC Social Innovation Project – a non-profit providing seed funding and pro bono services to spur creative, new projects tackling pressing social issues in Washington, D.C.

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