News Archive

John Mumm, the chief executive officer of Germantown’s Deka Biosciences, describes the body’s immune system as a ballet. While the dancers take the stage and command attention, Mumm notes that it’s the symphony that guides the performance and dictates where the dancers need to be.

What Does a Successful Submission Look Like?

• Offers Innovative solutions to a significant unmet clinical need 
• Provides solutions that have significant commercial potential 
• Corresponds to one of NIA’s research priorities 
• Leverages the expertise of the company/founder 
• Seeks funding to produce feasibility data (Phase I) or conduct product-focused development activities (Phase II)

BALTIMORE, Oct. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The Wrightguard Innovations Corporation (TWGIC), a University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) startup company developing smart mouthguard technology designed to protect athletes, announced today that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the company an SBIR grant totaling more than $250K.

Developed by the University of Maryland’s School of Dentistry (UMSOD) faculty member Radi Masri, DDS, MS, PhD, and Michael Wright, DDS, MS, CEO and founder of TWGIC, the technology is a smart mouthguard with physiological tracking capabilities that provides real-time monitoring for a variety of biometrics, such as force of impact, pH and hydration levels, as well as body temperature. Currently in the prototyping and beta testing phase, the technology can be used to collect multi-sensor data in real time, enabling more advanced physiological analysis and a new level of safety and performance for athletes.

Exits top $582 billion as US VC continues its extraordinary year

In nine months, the US venture capital industry turned 2021 into a year for the record books, leaving 2020’s eye-popping numbers far behind.

The Q3 2021 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor depicts how the frenetic pace of dealmaking, exits, and fundraising has easily toppled last year’s records, as venture capital’s strength continues to support the country’s economic recovery.

For our Dutch-speaking following, there is a podcast available with our CEO Paul Vulto. In this podcast series “Pioneren in de polder”, different entrepreneurs talk about starting and growing their company in the Leiden Bio Science Park. Listen to the podcast to hear about the origin story of MIMETAS, our launching customer, and of course Paul’s musical talents! e

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the first participant dosed in its pivotal phase 3 study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of the company’s investigational chikungunya virus (CHIKV) virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidate, CHIKV VLP, in a single dose. CHIKV VLP is the only VLP-based vaccine currently in clinical development for active immunization against chikungunya disease.

ROCKVILLE, Md. and EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUPN) and Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADMS), today announced a definitive agreement for Supernus to acquire Adamas through a tender offer for $8.10 per share in cash (or an aggregate of approximately $400 million), payable at closing plus two non-tradable contingent value rights (CVR) collectively worth up to $1.00 per share in cash (or an aggregate of approximately $50 million), for a total consideration of $9.10 per share in cash (or an aggregate of approximately $450 million). The first CVR, worth $0.50 per share, is payable upon achieving net sales of GOCOVRI® of $150 million in any four consecutive quarters between closing and the end of 2024. The second CVR, worth $0.50 per share, is payable upon achieving net sales of GOCOVRI of $225 million in any four consecutive quarters between closing and the end of 2025. The transaction is expected to close in late fourth quarter 2021 or in early first quarter 2022.

The transaction will provide Supernus with two marketed products: GOCOVRI (amantadine) extended release capsules, the first and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medicine indicated for the treatment of both OFF and dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson’s disease receiving levodopa-based therapy; and Osmolex ER® (amantadine) extended release tablets, approved for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and drug-induced extrapyramidal reactions in adult patients.

When Christine Dingivan took her first job in biotech, she assumed she would stay a couple years and go back to clinical medicine as a practicing surgeon. But when she discovered how much she loved research, that plan changed permanently.

“It all just came together for me, but it was not the career that I set out for when I went to medical school,” Dingivan says. “When you develop a new drug and it becomes available, whether it’s for cancer or an influenza vaccine or a pandemic — like the Covid-19 vaccines — you see the millions of people that have the opportunity to benefit from that work. You can only treat so many patients in one career, and I really felt like I was making a bigger impact in a way.”