News Archive

IT deal flow remained steady in 2Q. About $17 billion of PE capital was invested through 89 transactions, with both figures in line with previous quarters. The software segment of the industry is particularly active, with 2014 on pace to surpass the annual deal flow totals of any year following the financial crisis. Software has become industry-agnostic in some respects, as everything from colleges to hospitals to industrial conglomerates have incorporated software solutions into their operating models. For PE investors, software providers offer strong recurring revenue streams and also boast greater add-on potential for platforms.

Rockville-based electronic prescription software service provider DrFirst on Wednesday announced $10 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.

The health IT company has expanded its products over the years to include software in medication management, adherence and care coordination. The company said the financing will go toward product development and an anticipated international expansion in the next year.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. EBS -1.39% today announced that it has submitted a Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Anthrax Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human) [AIGIV] as part of a development contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). AIGIV, which was acquired in the Cangene acquisition completed earlier this year, is being developed as an intravenous therapeutic treatment for inhalation anthrax.

“This accomplishment is a testament to the diligent work of our employees within the recently acquired Cangene operations and their years of successful collaboration and partnering with the U.S. government,” said Adam Havey, executive vice president and president biodefense division at Emergent BioSolutions. “We commend BARDA for their steadfast commitment to advancing this key anthrax countermeasure program and remain dedicated to supporting their mission to protect our civilian and military population.”

Getting a shot is only a few seconds of discomfort, but that’s the first line of defense against an infectious disease.

It’s a process Emergent Biosolutions in Lansing knows well, as the only company that produces a licensed anthrax vaccine.

“Phase one is safety, phase two is selection and dose ranging, phase three we try to evaluate does it really work do we get the immune response we want,” said President of the Biodefense Division at Emergent Adam Havey.

The National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) is accepting proposals for its Pathways to Innovation Program.  

The Pathways to Innovation Program is designed to help institutions fully incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into undergraduate engineering education. The program is run by Epicenter, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

A study conducted by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Foundation (EAGB) to estimate Baltimore Gas and Electric’s (BGE) economic contributions to the region in 2013 found that its operations generated a total economic impact of $3.81 billion of output and supported 8,686 jobs. This resulted from the company’s direct effect, the effect of companies that provide services to BGE and the effect of employees of both BGE and the service companies.  BGE’s activities contribute more than 2 percent of the entire economic output of the BGE service area in central Maryland.

“We are proud to be able to support our partners in their goal of measuring and understanding their importance to the region’s workforce and economy,” said Tom Sadowski, President and CEO of the EAGB. “Our Chief Market Analyst, Patrick Dougherty, did a tremendous job of assessing and articulating the impact of BGE’s economic contributions to the region.”

Public health officials have just one tactic to battle the unrelenting Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa — quarantine — but as the disease continues to spread, scientists in Maryland are among those close to discovering other weapons.

Baltimore companies Profectus BioSciences and Paragon Bioservices, as well as researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, have been part of efforts that have shown a handful of Ebola vaccine candidates are effective in monkeys.

A new collaboration between the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) encourages SBIR applicants to license ARS technologies and be considered for a SBIR grant.

The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a CRADA with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission. In the event that two or more applications are of approximately equal merit, the existence of a CRADA with a USDA laboratory or a license to a USDA technology will be an important consideration. If one application is a resubmission, this will also be an important consideration.” The SBIR Website can be found at: http://www.nifa.usda.gov/fo/sbir.

Accelerator Corporation, a US-based biotech investment and management company, has attracted a total of $51.1m for its Accelerator IV fund. The three major investors’ cash, Eli Lilly, Pfizer Venture Investments and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, make up $50m of the investment.

The three pharmaceutical companies and other existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, WRF Capital and Arch Venture Partners, are joined by two new strategic investors. These are Harris & Harris, a venture capital firm, and The Partnership Fund for New York City, an evergreen fund by the city’s business and finance leaders.

Today, most healthcare organizations operate in ways that are antithetical to innovation. The trend in patient-centered healthcare is to focus on stability, predictability, standardization and the avoidance of risk. Process engineers are deployed to help hospitals and healthcare systems eliminate waste and improve their organizations using Lean and Six-Sigma principles. Few operators develop an effective focus on innovation. Therefore, few reap the rewards that innovative breakthroughs in patient care can bring.

In a recent Boston Consulting survey across different industries, 76% of executives ranked innovation as a “top-three” strategic priority for their company. Among CEOs specifically, that number rose to 85%, with nearly half of them ranking it as their #1 priority.