March 11 marked the sobering two-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. COVID-19 made clear that it can’t be business-as-usual with the medicines supply chain, not when lives are at stake. Since then, policymakers in Washington have committed billions of dollars to address vulnerabilities in pandemic preparedness infrastructure.
Sally Allain, Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, and Dr. Kurt Newman, Pres/CEO of Children’s National Hospital sit down with Tien and Anthony to discuss how JLABS and Children’s National are impacting pediatric healthcare in our region and nationally, and why they partnered to create a research and innovation campus at the old Walter Reed Army base.
Image: https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/about-us/team/sally-allain
President Joe Biden last week got his wish for a new agency to fund high-risk, cutting-edge biomedical research when Congress created the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and gave it a $1 billion startup investment. That’s a fraction of the $6.5 billion Biden had proposed, but advocates say it’s plenty to launch ARPA-H.
The 2022 spending bill does not resolve, however, a debate over whether to make ARPA-H a standalone agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Instead, it gives HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra 30 days to decide.
Image: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins
BALTIMORE, MD (March 15, 2022) — Global biotechnology business Miltenyi Biotec is expanding its operations in Maryland and transferring its North American headquarters to Gaithersburg. The company is working on expanding its 1201 Clopper Road facility to support additional manufacturing, research and development, quality assurance, and more. Miltenyi Biotec plans to add 130 new full-time jobs in Maryland, giving it a total of 300 employees in the state by the end of the year.
“By selecting Maryland for its North American headquarters, Miltenyi Biotec will help us continue growing our industry and further our efforts in remaining one of the top 10 life sciences clusters in the nation,” said Governor Larry Hogan. “We welcome the company’s continued investment in Montgomery County and look forward to supporting their efforts in Maryland and across the globe.”
GAITHERSBURG, MD, March 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NexImmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEXI), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a novel approach to immunotherapy designed to orchestrate a targeted immune response by directing the function of antigen-specific T cells, today announced a research and evaluation collaboration with The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and part of NYU Langone Health. The collaboration is centered around NexImmune’s artificial antigen presenting cells’ (aAPCs) ability to expand neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells in apheresis material provided by melanoma patients. Dr. Jeffrey S. Weber, Deputy Director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center will guide the research and evaluation.
New investment will enhance immunochemistry and chromatography services, helping pharma and biotech customers accelerate drug development
March 14, 2022 08:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time
WILMINGTON, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced it will invest $97 million to expand its clinical research operations in Richmond, Virginia. The facilities, which include laboratory operations acquired with the purchase of PPD, Inc. in December 2021, will support increasing demand across biopharma for consistent, high-quality laboratory services to accelerate drug development.
“What do you envision for your company’s future?” is a typical question for startups. And many of the 45 companies pitching in nine categories during the 14th annual SXSW Pitch Event showed they had a clear strategy for where they want to take their business next.
But no matter what the future holds, we all benefit from the inspired and imaginative minds solving today’s problems in both emerging and traditional industries like artificial intelligence and robotics, health, immersive, and transportation.
Mutual self-interest provides a strong basis for transatlantic cooperation in biotechnology based on shared recognition of its vast potential to provide solutions to some of civilization’s most pressing problems. Thanks to explosive advances in our understanding of the many ways in which promiscuous nature has been manipulating DNA and RNA for the past billion years, it is widely anticipated that the 21st century will belong to biology.1 We are now at the point where our ability to innovate is constrained less by technical capability than by the limits of our imaginations. Multiple laboratories and companies on both sides of the Atlantic (and throughout the world) are pursuing promising applications, and experience confirms progress would be accelerated by cooperative approaches. But there are some considerable challenges, especially in agricultural and industrial contexts.
Ken Malone, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Early Charm Ventures, Joins BioTalk to discuss his career path, loving Baltimore, and what he sees as next for the BioHealth Capital Region
Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3MRn94f, Google https://bit.ly/3tTPIpg, Spotify https://spoti.fi/36gfJXw, Amazon https://amzn.to/3MNckQG, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3i3H3e7.
Ken Malone is a co-founder of Early Charm Ventures, a venture studio founded in 2012 in Baltimore (Charm City) that converts science to business. Early Charm specializes in taking brilliant scientific discoveries made at universities and turning them into companies focused on growth. They don’t chase quick exits. They build companies that create sustainable value.
– ‘We Do Vaccines’ and ‘Know Our Vax’ are new educational efforts that provide information regarding vaccines
– Programs explain Novavax’ commitment to vaccine development and innovation
GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced the launch of its global unbranded ‘We Do Vaccines’ and ‘Know Our Vax’ programs, educational efforts aimed to help protect the health of people everywhere in the fight against COVID-19 and other deadly infectious diseases, such as influenza.
