News Archive

Sykesville, MD, and Fairfax, VA, December 21, 2020 – Noble Life Sciences (NLS), a preclinical contract research organization located in Sykesville, MD, has signed a Collaboration Agreement with George Mason University (Mason) to access the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID) BSL-3 facility located within their Biomedical Research Laboratory at Mason’s Science and Technology Campus in Manassas. The Agreement enables NLS to perform federal and non-federally funded BSL-3 animal model projects to support the development of new antiviral and antibacterial agents against infectious and resistant pathogens.

With more than $650 million in financing in place, vertical construction in excess of 1.1 million square feet of mixed-use space at Port Covington in Baltimore is set to begin at the 235-acre redevelopment site along the city’s waterfront.

This $500 million development phase, known as Chapter 1B, includes 440,000 square feet of office, 586,000 square feet of residential with 537 units, 116,000 square feet of retail, more than 1,000 parking spaces and 10 acres of parks and public space.  

Image: Port Covington. Image courtesy of Weller Development Co.

Ernesto Chanona joined Glen Burnie-based CSSi LifeSciences as its director of business development.

The organization works with companies to advance drugs and medical device technologies from discovery to commercialization.

“The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed business growth throughout the industry, and as such, CSSi LifeSciences is poised to expand in 2021,” Chanona said. “Initially, I’ll be focusing on managing the company’s early-stage clients, housed at incubators all over the world. Growing the pipeline through strategic partnerships with economic development agencies, incubators, universities and startups is also part of the plan.”

Last year, when GEN prepared an editorial titled Eight Biopharma Trends to Watch in 2020, who could have foreseen COVID-19 and the deaths, illnesses, and economic disruption that the disease would wreak? And who could have foreseen how armies of industry and academic researchers would race to develop hundreds of new and repositioned vaccines and drugs? (GEN tracks more than 300 on its COVID-19 Drug and Vaccine Tracker webpage).

While biopharma was dominated by COVID-19, which prompted a surge of research and business activity, the industry also saw developments that will position it for further growth even after the virus is brought under control.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Emmes, a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization (CRO) dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, today announced that long-time employee, Dr. Paul VanVeldhuisen, has been named President of Emmes Public Sector.

Emmes is now organized into two business groups:  Emmes Public Sector and Emmes Biopharma.  The public sector group includes all the company’s existing federal government clients and contracts, as well as work for foundations, public/private sector partnerships, and not-for-profit organizations.

Image: Paul VanVeldhuisen – PRNewsfoto/Emmes

More than 50 local leaders have mapped out an economic recovery strategy for the Washington area that they say would leave it more unified, resilient and prosperous than before the novel coronavirus upended the region.

Connected DMV — a group representing the local academic, nonprofit, public and private sectors — initially came together in March 2019 to drive economic growth in the D.C. area. When the pandemic struck a year later, the group pivoted to creating what it calls a “strategic renewal” task force, which issued a report this month with 12 initiatives to remedy the region’s social and economic challenges.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced the commencement of the Phase III trial (NCT04611802) of the Novavax investigational COVID-19 vaccine, in a press release issued on Monday, December 28, 2020. The trial will evaluate the effectiveness, immune response, and safety of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Novavax, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland, called NVX-CoV2373, and is estimated to complete data collection by March 31, 2021.