Maryland lawmakers have penned a letter to Pfizer asking the New York-based pharmaceutical giant to ensure that it will not shed jobs at Gaithersburg-based MedImmune should it succeed in acquiring parent company AstraZeneca.
Pfizer has offered as much as $106 billion to acquire United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca in a deal that could rank among the largest ever for the pharmaceutical industry. So far, the companies have not agreed on a purchase price.
San Diego-based biopharmaceuticals developer Lumena Pharmaceuticals has been acquired by UK-based Shire plc, in a deal worth $260M plus earn out, the companies said this morning. Shire said the buy would help add to its rare diseases portfolio. Lumena Pharmaceuticals had filed for an IPO in April; the company was venture backed by Alta Partners, New Enterprise Associates, RiverVest, A.M. Pappas Life Sciences Ventures, and Adage Capital Partners.
The recently published “Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media”, weighing in at over five hundred pages, claims to be the first “systematic and comprehensive” reference work on digital media. However, the reader need only scan the table of contents with entries ranging from the expected, such as “Blogs,” to the obscure such as “Searle’s Chinese Rooms,” to appreciate that it is neither systematic nor comprehensive. And, this is not necessarily a bad thing. For, The Guide does indeed accomplish what it sets out to do: provide readers with ” a GPS and a map of the territory of digital media, so that they will be able to design their own journey through this vast field of discovery.”
D.C. startup incubator and co-working campus 1776 filed paperwork with the SEC to create a $25 million seed investment fund according to a report in the Washington Business Journal. The filing, issued in the name of “1776 Seed Investors, LP,” would be part of a longer term plan by 1776 to start funding startups while it continues to incubate them at its D.C. headquarters.
Drug targets are like fashion items. When a trendsetter proves one is worth spending money on, a lot of followers pile in. That’s no knock on drug developers, necessarily: When a new target shows some promise, it’s good to have lots of researchers with different ideas and approaches trying to find a drug to hit it. In the last few years, many of those researchers from the academic and industry camps who traditionally wouldn’t work together are joining forces.
Enter drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), which has tried various schemes to make its research groups more biotech-like, including the spin-out of an immunology team into a separate biotech company. That company, Tempero Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, has teamed up with two academic labs to go after one of the most intriguing targets in immune disease, the IL-17 pathway, and a paper they published recently has caught the eyes of their peers.
Ready to put an end to a devastating disease, Maryland-based biotechnology company Sanaria launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to eliminate the threat of malaria. The company is aiming to raise $250k to develop of SporoBot, a robot that will dissect mosquito salivary glands and to accelerate vaccine development.
Malaria is a vector borne disease that is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. During the bite, it regurgitates parasitic protozoa Plasmodium falciparum. This is then embedded in the host’s liver until it matures and releases its progeny. It then destroys the host’s red cells and ultimately kills the host.
Digital health is a popular business these days, but it’s also a tricky one.
In theory, remote monitoring and engagement products have the potential to drive long-term cost savings, but robust data is lacking and consumer adoption so far has been relatively low.
During the Spring 2014 Maryland legislative session, the Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credits were increased by $2M to $12M. The electronic queue for these credits will take place on July 1, 2014. To participate in this queue, companies must register by submitting their complete application (form A1/A2/A3 and form B) to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) Tax Incentives Group between June 2nd and June 27th.
Companies seeking to confirm their QMBC (Qualified Maryland Biotechnology Company) status prior to June 2nd may do so by submitting their company’s information (form B) to DBED between May 19th and May 30th.
Join us at another BioBuzz event with Sponsor The UMD Biotechnology Research and Education Program (BREP) on May 21st from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. at American Tap Room in Rockville, MD. .This location is a short walk from the Metro in the Rockville Town Center. We’re capping the registration at 120 people, so make sure you sign up today!
The Government Contracting Institute, sponsored by TargetGov and bwtech@UMBC, introduces a new class covering the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The class, called “How the SBIR/STTR Program Can Help Grow Your Business” will be held at bwtech@UMBC’s South Campus on May 27, 2014. Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be an integral part of the class instruction.
The SBIR/STTR programs promote small business innovation and profitability while simultaneously meeting the government’s research and development needs. Every year, small businesses receive millions of dollars in SBIR/STTR funds for research, development and commercialization purposes. This course will provide attendees with an overview of the SBIR/STTR programs; funding sources and eligibility requirements; best practices in SBIR/STTR proposals writing, involvement, and commercialization; and a discussion of how to protect your company’s legal interests in either program.
