News Archive

FREDERICK, Md., July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — BioFactura, Inc. today announced a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract awarded by the Joint Science & Technology Office—Chemical and Biological Defense (JSTO-CBD) of the Department of Defense (DoD). The goal of this project is to develop, optimize, and scale-up a highly efficient mammalian cell culture-based bioprocess suitable to meet surge requirement needs for rapid manufacture of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutic against the Marburg virus (MARV) biothreat.

COLUMBIA, Md., July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced today the appointments of Michael Hauser as the Managing Director of Investments and Terry Rauh as the Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer.

“Michael and Terry bring many years of leadership experience to fill these critical roles at TEDCO,” said Troy LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO’s incoming CEO and executive director. “Leveraging their extensive knowledge of the Maryland business and innovation ecosystem, we’re looking forward to the impact they will make in fostering TEDCO’s mission.”

Image: Michael Hauser, TEDCO

Charlottesville, Va., July 28, 2020 – HemoShear Therapeutics, a clinical stage company developing treatments for rare metabolic disorders, has received Fast Track and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for HST5040, a once-daily oral small molecule drug being developed to treat methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA).  

In June, HemoShear received clearance from the FDA for its Investigational New Drug application to conduct a phase 2 clinical study of HST5040 in patients with MMA and PA. MMA and PA are rare genetic disorders caused by the deficiency of certain enzymes required to metabolize amino acids.

Regina E. Dugan is chief executive of Wellcome Leap, a nonprofit that seeks breakthroughs in human health. From 2009 to 2012, she served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The global pandemic is a hinge in history. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost globally; trillions in economic damage. It is as if the 1918 flu and the 1929 crash happened in the same year. It is the kind of event that alters the course of history so much that we measure time by it: before the pandemic — and after. It is a Sputnik moment.

Image: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

Johns Hopkins cancer diagnostics spinoff Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. has raised $257 million in new funding a little over a year after it closed another huge round.

Thrive launched in May 2019 with $110 million in funding for its cancer-detecting blood test developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins. That Series A round was remarkable for its size. It was the largest ever raised in support of a Hopkins-licensed technology, and among the largest raised by any firm co-based in the Baltimore area.

Image: https://www-bizjournals-com

ROCKVILLE, Md., July 28, 2020 — American Gene Technologies (AGT), an internationally recognized leading gene and cell therapy company in Rockville, Maryland, today announced it has leased a spacious, modern facility in the Maryland life sciences corridor, across from National Cancer Institute and Johns Hopkins Shady Grove Campus.

Image: https://www.americangene.com

Future pandemics—and suffering of the kind inflicted by COVID-19—could be avoided if we troubled ourselves to see where dangerous pathogens lie in wait. We could, two unrelated studies suggest, save ourselves untold woe and conserve our fortunes if we were to look into matters geographic, zoologic, and genomic. More specifically, we need to keep our eyes wide open when we venture into the planet’s last wild places. There, we may run into wild animals that are infected with pathogens harboring wild genetic traits—which is to say, genetic traits that evolved naturally, beyond our gaze, and that waited patiently, perhaps decades, for a chance to strike.

Biotechnology led the healthcare industry in investment activity from private equity and venture capital during the first half of 2020, drawing nearly $12.60 billion in funding, up from $7.28 billion for the year-ago period.

The biotechnology sector either announced or concluded 342 deals globally as of June 30, comprising mergers and acquisitions and private placements, where the main investor was either a venture capitalist, a hedge fund manager or a private equity company, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Image: https://www.spglobal.com