News Archive

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’s corporate investment and innovation organization, Healthworx, has partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based Halcyon incubator program to provide funding and support for healthcare entrepreneurs.

Through the partnership, Healthworx will allot up to $200,000 to support innovative healthcare ventures in the incubator. Additionally, a Healthworx team member will join the Halcyon selection committee, tasked with ensuring that at least one slot in each of the next four program cohorts will go to a healthcare entrepreneur or startup developing solutions to improve outcomes and reduce the cost of care.

Virginia Tech plans to launch a cancer research initiative to promote collaboration among engineers, veterinarians, biomedical researchers and other scientists.

“We are going to create a sense of intellectual community of common interest for people. That takes money, resources and creating things they are interested in,” said Michael Friedlander, Tech’s vice president of health sciences and technology. “We are going to make available instrumentation and facilities for cancer researchers to use from all over the campus, some of which will be here, some of which will be new things we haven’t gotten yet. And we’re going to survey people: What do you need that you don’t have at Virginia Tech for leading-edge research?”

Image: Michael Friedlander

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) recently conducted a survey called, “Women in Technology Leadership 2019”, which examined tech and healthcare company startup data and demographics. Respondents were from the U.S., UK, Canada and China.

SVB’s survey found that only 56% of responding startups have at least one woman in an executive position and only 40% have at least one woman on the board of directors. 28% of surveyed startups had at least one female founder. 

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Cerecor Announces $43 Million Deal with AYTU BioScience to Sell Pediatric Portfolio and Advance Towards NDA

It was announced today that Rockville, Maryland-based Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ: CERC) has entered into an asset purchase agreement with AYTU BioScience, Inc. (“AYTU”) to sell Cerecor’s Pediatric Portfolio in a deal valued in excess of $32 million.

Cerecor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of treatments for pediatric rare diseases. Earlier this year the company received Fast Track Designation for its lead product candidate, CERC-801 and expects to receive its first FDA approval within the next 18 months.

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A pair of biotechnology companies — Viela Bio and NextCure — launched initial public offerings this year, raising nearly $260 million in public funds between them.

Image: Courtesy of Catalyte 

We are hiring! Maryland Commerce is looking for a professional from the life sciences industry to serve as our Director of BioHealth and Life Sciences. Come be part of the team!

I am happy to announce that a manuscript detailing a AEX and VF spiking study performed with MedImmune (AstraZeneca) and Texcell has been published in Biotechnology Progress. Click here for a good read!

On September 18, 2019, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was named the Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the 2019 LMG Life Sciences Awards, besting four other law firm nominees for the second year in a row. LMG’s annual awards program honors the top firms and legal professionals in the life sciences market. Awards are based on interviews and surveys completed by participants who are active in the life sciences market. This year’s awards program was held in New York City at Essex House.

Thank you Nasdaq for shinning a light today on Adaptive Phage Therapeutics and the significant market potential of our phage therapy in meeting the rapidly expanding un-met need for a cure for patients with antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Thanks to the NEXT team at Shulman Rogers for your support!