News Archive

ROCKVILLE, MD – May 19, 2020

Creatv MicroTech (Creatv), a cancer screening and diagnostic company with headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, is announcing a collaboration with the University of Miami School of Medicine on a study supported by the National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute entitled “MRI Imaging and Biomarkers for Early Detection of Aggressive Prostate Cancer”. Allan Pollack, Sanoj Punnen and Radka Stoyanova are the study’s Principal Investigators.

The study objective is to evaluate and validate the integration of quantitative imaging features with pathologic, molecular and blood markers to better manage prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment selection. Creatv’s biomarker, cancer associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) originated within the cancer stroma and can be found along with circulating tumor cells (CTCs).  

Since 2016, CARB-X has been funding and supporting the early development of innovative vaccines, rapid diagnostics, antibiotics and other life-saving therapeutics to address drug-resistant bacteria. Even as we struggle with coronavirus, we must continue the fight against superbugs. www.carb-x.org/60thproject #antibioticresistance #amr #diagnostics #vaccines #antibiotics #microbiome

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 18, 2020 – Emmes today announced that it was ranked as the seventh largest biosciences employer in the greater Washington area. The ranking is compiled annually by the Washington Business Journal.

Emmes reported revenues of $125 million in 2019 and has more than 750 employees globally. More than 675 employees work in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The company is expecting to hire nearly 70 new employees to support new and expanded clinical research projects. This represents an increase of approximately 10 percent of its area-wide workforce. The positions include clinical operations staff, biostatisticians, bioinformatics experts, project control analysts, project managers, data management staff, technical writers, clinical research auditors, and proposal manager. The company has offices in Rockville, MD, Frederick, MD and Tysons Corner, VA. Emmes continues to maintain a robust teleworking environment.

When infectious disease expert Crystal Icenhour began offering COVID-19 testing last month at her Aperiomics commercial laboratory in Sterling, Va., she expected a flood of orders. She could deliver results within 24 hours, compared to backlogged larger labs, and she could process up to 2,500 tests a week.

“We thought we’d be turning work away,” she said. Instead, she runs a few hundred tests a week, “a fraction of our capacity so far.”

Image: Crystal Icenhour, CEO of Aperiomics in Sterling, Va., say they can process about 2500 COVID-19 tests a week. Like many labs in the D.C. region, they are running at a fraction of capacity, despite an urgent need for more widespread testing. Daniella Cheslow / WAMU

University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay Perman said the system’s colleges are “planning to resume at least some in-person teaching and learning” in the fall, after the coronavirus forced most campuses nationwide to close down during the spring semester.

Image: Jay Perman is the chancellor of the University System of Maryland. BBJ FILE

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are planning a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate a form of allogeneic cell therapy for COVID-19, after four out of six patients critically ill with the disease recovered well enough following infusions of the cells to be discharged from the hospital. The remaining two patients who received the treatment are also alive, in the hospital.

In 2009, a remarkable partnership started with an unsolicited email and a “cold call.”

Ten years later, Rockville, Maryland’s Sanaria and the Bioko Island Malaria Elimination Project (BIMEP) consortium won the P3 Impact Award from a pool of nearly 2,000 applicants, marking a milestone for a unique and remarkable global health consortium that’s turning the tide in the global fight against malaria.

Image: http://www.biohealthcapital.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused— and will continue to cause—much uncertainty in the worldwide financial markets. We expect to see substantial declines in the coming months in the number and aggregate dollar value of venture financings, similar to the declines during the dot-com crash in the early 2000s and during the 2008 financial crisis.

We are living and working through a period in human history when scientific leadership and knowledge are crucial for our nation, our organization and ourselves. It is a time for us to bring to the fore the focus on this most critical of human capabilities. 

As you know, against the backdrop of the profound challenges we face as an industry – and now overlaid by the additional impact of COVID-19 – BIO has conducted a search for a new President and CEO. On behalf of the Executive Committee of the BIO Board of Directors, I am delighted to announce that we have appointed Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath to lead BIO at this pivotal moment in our organization’s history, effective June 1, 2020. 

Immunomic Therapeutics Incorporated (ITI), located in Rockville, Maryland recently announced it had closed on $61.3M in financing, exceeding its initial fundraising projections by over $11M. The Korean investment group HLB Co., LTD led the financing round, which is just the latest accomplishment for the clinical-stage biotechnology company that launched in 2006.