News Archive

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm, today announced the kickoff of a second installment of its design mentorship program, In the Studio. Building on NEA’s successful 2013 program, In the Studio will be an intensive, two-week program for up to six design teams, developed and produced in collaboration with New York City-based product studio All Tomorrows, led by Albert Lee, and with Liz Danzico, founding chairperson of the Interaction Design program at New York City’s School of Visual Arts. Applications are now being accepted for the program, which will take place June 2nd through 17th, 2014.

Led by NEA Partner Dayna Grayson, the program evolved in response to a growing community of entrepreneurially minded designers, particularly in the New York City tech ecosystem. With design increasingly central in building successful consumer and enterprise applications, the program recruits talented designers with entrepreneurial or startup aspirations and provides mentorship, resources and opportunities to collaborate.

This year has been charted with the unfolding of several White House technology initiatives that involve leveraging the groundbreaking work of the nation’s federal laboratories. In 1986, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) was mandated to pursue these initiatives by facilitating the movement of technologies from labs to the marketplace, strengthening research and development by streamlining technology transfer (T2) procedures, and increasing industry partnerships and collaborations. And, given the theme of this year’s FLC national meeting, “Accelerating Innovation for Economic Impact,” coupled with its nearby capital setting at the North Bethesda Marriott in Rockville, Maryland, this year is no exception.

BVCF, a Shanghai-based life sciences investor, has closed its third fund with $188 million to back upstart biotechs on both sides of the Pacific focused on the booming Asian market. Dow Jones’ VentureWire and other media outlets reported that the backers to this fund include Novartis ($NVS), BlackRock, NEA and International Finance, which is gambling $20 million on the fund at a when time drug development activities in China continue to heat up.

BVCF sits on the crossroads of a relatively small but fast-growing area in biotech. U.S. and European biopharma companies have been looking for new ways to enter the Chinese drug market as the Big Pharma giants build out large new R&D operations in Asia and start linking up with academic groups. And the trend is spawning new joint ventures and company startups with in-licensed development projects.

Drug research is a small world, where the main players often intersect repeatedly as they take on new roles at different institutions. And MD Anderson’s new “moon shots” program on immuno-oncology is proving that maxim yet again as GlaxoSmithKline’s immunotherapy team suits up for the last big slot in an ambitious alliance of industry giants aimed at discovering some new products in the red-hot cancer R&D field.

GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) is taking a berth next to teams from AstraZeneca ($AZN), Pfizer ($PFE) and Johnson & Johnson ($J&J). And the pact brings together two of the key players in the development of Yervoy, the pioneering anti-CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitor which helped trigger one of the most frenetic development races the industry has seen.

Historic release of data gives consumers unprecedented transparency on the medical services physicians provide and how much they are paid

Today, as part of the Obama administration’s work to make our health care system more transparent, affordable, and accountable, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the release of new, privacy-protected data on services and procedures provided to Medicare beneficiaries by physicians and other health care professionals. The new data also show payment and submitted charges, or bills, for those services and procedures by provider.

The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest technology trade association for life science and technology, today praised state lawmakers for advancing key priorities for the tech community during this year’s legislative session. The 2014 session concluded on Monday.

“We are encouraged to see Maryland lawmakers and the Administration come through on our biggest pro-growth priorities: stronger incentives for R&D, biotechnology, and cybersecurity,” said Phil Schiff, TCM’s CEO. “These industries are the catalysts for innovation and job growth in Maryland, and we are grateful to see so many policy makers in Annapolis recognize the pivotal role they will play in Maryland’s economic future.”

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, announced today the CE mark and launch of the BD MAX™ GC rt PCR assay in Europe. The BD MAX GC rt PCR assay is an in vitro diagnostic test intended for testing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) positive results from the BD ProbeTec™ GC Qx Amplified DNA Assay performed on the BD Viper™ System with XTR™ Technology. The assay may be used for detection of GC DNA in residual male or female urine specimens, or residual endocervical, vaginal or male urethral swab specimens that have tested positive for GC using the BD ProbeTec GC Qx Amplified DNA Assay.

With a budget bill passed this weekend and the University System of Maryland successfully lobbying for limited cuts to its state funding, the final day of the state’s legislative session was less intense for the higher education lobby.

The most significant bills for this university and the university system received support in both chambers of the legislature and passed with little controversy.

But for what amounted to a quiet day, the university system secured significant victories, with measures that use university resources to spur economic development and a state grant program aimed at attracting talented faculty to state universities passing one right after the other on the morning of sine die.

A less-invasive brain diagnostic test, a surface so slippery bacteria can’t stick to it, and a low-cost mylar wrap to help warm babies’ heads after surgery were three of the projects on display at Boston Children’s Hospital’s first-ever Innovators Showcase Friday.

The event is part of a larger push by Chief Innovation Officer Naomi Fried’s office to seek out innovators across the organization, support them with advice and sometimes money, and help guide them towards commercialization.

A group of University of Maryland undergraduates put together a spectacular hackathon this weekend, attracting more than 750 college students from across the country to take part in the 36-hour long event. The hackathon, which went by the name of Bitcamp, lasted from April 4-6 in Cole Field House on school grounds, providing students with the opportunity to collaborate with fellow innovators in creating brilliant new hardware and applications for mobile devices, computers or the Web.