News Archive

Physician’s Choice Laboratory Services (PCLS) announced today that it has recently partnered with Genesys Biolabs, a division of 20/20 GeneSystems, Inc. (Rockville, MD) to offer PAULA’s Test (Protein Assay Using Lung Cancer Analytes), a simple blood test that aids physicians in the early detection of lung cancer.

“As an enthusiastic proponent of personalized medicine, PCLS is pleased to partner with 20/20 GeneSystems to promote their newest assay for early stage detection of lung cancer, PAULA’s Test. This test will be of great value to the physicians and patients affected in communities PCLS serves. Lung cancer is a curable disease when caught early and risk-directed screening will save lives as well as reduce the total cost of treatment. The test is a beneficial leap forward for high-risk individuals, providers, and the healthcare system,” said Joe Wiegel, President of PCLS.

Mark Cuban’s comments about personalized health may have turned a few heads but as one source soberly reminded us, he is not the first or the only billionaire investor in healthcare. Not by a long shot. Several people who have nine zeroes in their net worth have invested in the space. They’re motivated by emerging mobile health technology to help reduce healthcare costs and see it as playing a critical role in the future of healthcare technology. There are also philanthropic considerations to increase access to healthcare in underserved populations.

MhealthInsight reckons there are about 19 billionaire investors in mobile health, including Cuban. Here are some highlights from that list.

A new interdisciplinary center at the University of Maryland is at the forefront of a digital revolution in health care.

Gaithersburg-based biotech MedImmune has appointed Yong-Jun Liu, chief scientific officer of the Baylor Research Institute, as its new head of research.

The appointment puts Liu in a pivotal role, not just for MedImmune but also for its parent company, AstraZeneca, which is depending on its U.S.-based biologics arm to supply a pipeline of early-stage drug candidates.

Johns Hopkins undergraduate students have invented a system to shock a dangerously irregular heart back into normal rhythm more safely and effectively.

The two-component system is designed both to expand a doctor’s options in routing electric current through the heart and to improve the application of pressure to the patient’s body to help treatment succeed.

The past month has seen a flurry of social engagement around the Pitch Across Maryland and the 160+ videos we amassed during the month-long tour around our great state of Maryland.

Our entrepreneurs and their supporters got the Vote Out for their ventures and the Three Fan Favorites were announced last week.

This week we have received the “envelope” with the distilled list of Eight (8) Finalists (a.k.a The Great 8) who have been selected to present again at TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo (www.innovate.md) on Monday, November 18.

Monday, November 18, 2013, BWI Airport Marriott

The 2013 Entrepreneur Expo  hosted by The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) brings together all of Maryland’s entrepreneurial resources from across the state into one place, at one time. This 3rd Annual Event is expected to draw 400+ of the region’s top entrepreneurs, small business executives, angel and venture capital investors, federal and state economic development officials, university leaders and legislators.

The theme for this year’s event is E2E: Entrepreneurs Inspiring Entrepreneurs and illustrates the focus on creating an environment where leading entrepreneurs can inspire the next generation of innovators, and where up-and-comers can make valuable connections to ideas, mentors and capital.

Two more venture capital firms have been selected to receive InvestMD funds that they will invest in local startup companies.

EnerTech Capital Partners will receive $10 million and Foundation Medical Partners will receive $7 million. As part of the state’s InvestMaryland program, the firms will use it to back local startup companies. After a startup exits, the state gets 100 percent of its principal investment and 80 percent of the proceeds from the exit. The venture firms can keep the remaining 20 percent of the proceeds.

New Enterprise Associates has had a hand in a number of Boston’s biotech startups over the years. But it wasn’t until now that the big VC firm officially put a physical footprint in the biotech cluster in Cambridge, MA.

NEA today is announcing that it has opened an office in Kendall Square. It’s on the third floor at 700 Tech Square in Cambridge, and will serve as a local home base for the VC firm and its healthcare partners, many of which serve on boards in the area. NEA already has offices in New York, California, Washington, D.C, Chicago, China, and India.

Johns Hopkins is more than halfway to its $4.5 billion fundraising goal, the university announced Wednesday, with the money helping to support initiatives that include urban revitalization and global health.

More than 162,000 donors have helped Hopkins meet the halfway mark earlier than officials had previously expected, in spring 2014. The $4.5 billion fundraising goal is among the biggest such efforts in the country and the largest for the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital.