News Archive

As part of an ongoing effort to empower patients to be informed partners with their health care providers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken action to give patients or a person designated by the patient a means of direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.

“The right to access personal health information is a cornerstone of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Information like lab results can empower patients to track their health progress, make decisions with their health care professionals, and adhere to important treatment plans.”

Two years ago, at the recommendation of a nutritionist, I stopped eating wheat and a few other grains. Within a matter of days the disabling headaches and fatigue that I had been suffering for months vanished. Initially my gastroenterologist interpreted this resolution of my symptoms as a sign that I perhaps suffered from celiac disease, a peculiar disorder in which the immune system attacks a bundle of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye that are collectively referred to as gluten. The misdirected assault ravages and inflames the small intestine, interfering with the absorption of vital nutrients and thereby causing bloating, diarrhea, headaches, tiredness and, in rare cases, death. Yet several tests for celiac disease had come back negative. Rather my doctors concluded that I had nonceliac “gluten sensitivity,” a relatively new diagnosis. The prevalence of gluten sensitivity is not yet clear, but some data suggest it may afflict as many as 6 percent of Americans, six times the number of people with celiac disease.

Ten big rival drug companies have formed a pact to cooperate on a government-backed effort to accelerate the discovery of new drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The companies and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will share scientists, tissue and blood samples, and data, to identify targets for new drugs for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, the Journal said.

On March 19 and 20, the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) will be holding its “Global 1000: Meet | Partner | Deal Showcase and Conference” at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. The GLOBAL 1000 Meet | Partner | Deal :: Startups Showcase + Conference is an important transaction-based conference for Global 1000 corporates, and for universities, angel investors, VCs, accelerators, incubators, state startup investment programs, and SBIR programs, who want to do deals with them. The conference has multiple showcases by Global 1000 corporates, state programs, universities, VCs and angel investors. Sophisticated meeting software allows for real-time meetings between conference attendees to facilitate deal-making at the conference.

Global Corporate Venturing is the fastest growing venturing activity in the world with already about $100 billion in venturing assets and more than $3.5 trillion in corporate revenues. According to NCET2’s Executive Director, Tony Stanco, the conference focuses on bringing deals to the Global 1000 companies. He said, “This is the major conference to do transactions with the Global 1000 corporates, including M&A, favored access to customers, early/late stage investing, partnering, joint venturing, co-developing products, incubation, product sourcing, white labeling, revenue sharing, and distributor agreements.”

NCET2 is proud to have Innovation America as a media partner. Richard Bendis will be delivering a keynote speech on Thursday, March 20. Innovation America subscribers can get a $300 registration discount by using the code “innoam2014“.

Female blue crab’s eyes play a role in growing body parts that enable the crabs to mate and reproduce, according to researchers at the University of Maryland’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET).

It has been known that the crabs’ eyeballs produce hormones responsible for the growth and development for a crab from adolescence to adulthood, but this new find is noteworthy for its necessity in crab motherhood.

Independence Blue Cross today announced it has created the Independence Blue Cross (IBC) Center for Health Care Innovation, an important milestone in the company’s groundbreaking efforts to transform the Philadelphia area into a national magnet for health care innovation. At the 5,000-square foot center at 1700 Market Street in Philadelphia, the company’s associates and external partners will innovate, collaborate, and implement path-finding new concepts in health care. The center will also be the home for the company’s widening range of innovation initiatives, including its partnership with Penn Medicine and DreamIt Ventures on the region’s first health care accelerator, DreamIt Health Philadelphia, which last year brought ten promising health care startups from across the country to Philadelphia and today eight are still located in the region.

“Through the IBC Center for Health Care Innovation, we are championing health care entrepreneurism in our region, and acting as a catalyst for innovations that lead to superior care at lower costs,” said Independence Blue Cross President and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty. “With our region’s active investment community, experienced health care talent, world class health care systems, and strong academic institutions, we have all the ingredients to become the Silicon Valley of health care innovation.”

One year after DreamIt Health and the Canadian consulate launched digital health accelerators, the University City Science Center is hosting a state-backed health IT accelerator, according to a statement. The program has spots for six companies in a three-month program in Philadelphia. Aron Starosta, who set up the Canadian Consulate’s accelerator on the Science Center’s campus, also developed the Pennsylvania-backed program.

Geography isn’t a barrier as long as companies are registered in the state. The application deadline is March 15.

The Salk Institute’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for managing the intellectual property of the Salk Institute.

At the OTD, our mission is to enable our researchers to realize the commercial potential of their ideas. Our goal is to develop and support relationships with industry partners who can help turn scientific progress in the lab into tangible products for the benefit of patients and society at large, while returning income to the inventor and to the Institute to support further research.

Commentary by Dr. Wallace D. Loh, President, University of Maryland

Maryland’s economic success relies on its staggering concentration of scientific talent, superb education, highly competitive businesses and enlightened government. When they all mesh, the state’s economy outpaces the competition.

This has earned Maryland a designation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the No. 1 entrepreneurial state and a No. 2 ranking by the National Science Foundation for the economic impact of its concentrated research activities.

People can argue all day about whether Illumina has, at last, given us the $1,000 genome. The answer does matter, because the cheaper it gets to sequence a whole human genome, the easier it will be to gather lots of them. That will help us understand what makes people different, and shed light on what causes disease. Or so scientists hope.

It’s heady stuff. But that’s the not the biggest story at Illumina right now.