News Archive

Sally Allain, MSc., MBA, Head of JLABS @ Washington, D.C. joins Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss her career, the decision to open a BioHealth Capital Region location, and their new BLUE KNIGHT™ collaboration.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/35ivWc3, Google https://bit.ly/3k0vOlA, Spotify https://spoti.fi/2R84fuh, TuneIn https://bit.ly/2F0a0rN, and YouTube Audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHvb42ohtc.

As the world scrambles to develop diagnostics, treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, one big question looms: How will we face the next pandemic? Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) are teaming up once again to answer that.

Through a joint effort dubbed Blue Knight, the duo aims to boost innovation and “amplify” scientific and technological advancements to prepare for potential health threats—starting with COVID-19. They’ve picked seven startups from J&J’s global JLABS network to participate. The startups will receive up to $500,000 in support, as well as mentorship from BARDA and J&J to help them navigate R&D challenges and regulatory pathways and get medicines and tools to patients and healthcare workers as soon as possible.

Image: Startups chosen for the program may participate at JLABS locations in Washington, D.C., New York, San Diego or Toronto. If they don’t need a physical location or lab space, they may participate virtually. (Johnson & Johnson)

Vaccitech officials say the company received a U.K. government grant to support research with its next-generation technology platform to protect against COVID-19. The grant is part of the UKRI-NIHR COVID-19 rapid response rolling call for proposals with potential to deliver public health impacts within 12 months.

Preclinical data indicate Vaccitech’s new platform induces antibody and cell-mediated immune responses when compared with the adenoviral platforms currently in vaccine trials for COVID-19, according to Bill Enright, Vaccitech CEO. The preclinical data informed the decision of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and other funders, including the World Health Organization (WHO), to support Vaccitech’s research efforts, he added.

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic venture capital platform of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, was recognized by Silicon Valley Bank in its “Mid-Year 2020 Healthcare Investments and Exits Report” as the #1 most active biopharma investor by new deal volume from 2019 to 1H20. As a testament to Alexandria’s position at the heart of the life science ecosystem, this marks the third consecutive year the company’s venture capital platform has earned this distinguished and impactful recognition. Since its founding in 1996, Alexandria Venture Investments has strategically invested in some of the most disruptive and promising seed-, early- and growth-stage technologies and companies, and it stands today as an integral component of the company’s uniquely differentiated and multifaceted business strategy.

Pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) on Thursday started a clinical trial for their jointly developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

A total of 440 healthy adults are being enrolled in the trial across 11 investigational sites in the US, the two drugmakers said.

The vaccine candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines with GSK’s pandemic adjuvant technology.

The Phase 1/2 clinical trial is a randomised, double blind and placebo-controlled trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immune response of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Advances in science and technology can drive the next generation of skincare innovations.  Today, cutting edge dermatological research and technologies hold the potential to revolutionize pore minimizing and anti-aging solutions. 

To that end, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., and Alibaba’s TMALL announce the Skincare of the Future QuickFire Challenge, calling on innovators to submit products, services and technologies aiming to help consumers tackle the world’s toughest skincare challenges, with a specific focus on pore minimizing and anti-aging solution. 

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Recognizing the benefits of proximity to leading U.S. researchers, regulators and advocacy groups, Nobelpharma America, LLC has chosen Montgomery County, Maryland as the location for its first overseas subsidiary of Nobelpharma Co. Ltd., a company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Nobelpharma’s company mission is to contribute to society by providing critical but neglected pharmaceuticals and medical devices. 

Nobelpharma meets an essential patient need: it develops curative drugs and medical devices for diseases that often go overlooked because of the small number of patients. Examples include patients suffering from tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and adductor spasmodic dysphonia.    

TruGenomix recently announced $1.8 million in financing in a seed round led by Sanford Health. The startup, a graduate of the Illumina Accelerator program and a Veteran Founder Initiative company, also announced matching funding from Viking Global, a partner of the Illumina Accelerator.

As a veteran-owned business, TruGenomix’s founding mission of improving the lives of U.S. military service members and veterans remains at its roots. With a vision of bringing behavioral health into the 21st century, TruGenomix is advancing the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through leveraging genomic and machine learning technologies.

Image: https://fi.co