On Monday morning in Bethesda, Maryland hundreds of industry leaders emerged from a large ballroom at the inaugural Bio Innovation Conference, hosted by Maryland Life Sciences, a division of the Maryland Tech Council.
After hearing the opening remarks attendees could only have felt one of two ways – proud to be part of Maryland’s life sciences community or eager to become part of it.
Image: https://biobuzz.io
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that the company’s chikungunya virus (CHIKV) virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidate, CHIKV VLP, was granted PRIority MEdicines, or PRIME, designation by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) during its September meeting. The PRIME scheme is designed to enhance support for the development of medicines that target an unmet medical need and that may offer a major therapeutic advantage over existing treatments, or benefit patients without preventative or treatment options. The CHIKV VLP vaccine candidate is being developed for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus infection, an illness that spreads through mosquito bites and for which no vaccine or treatment is available.
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Emmes today announced the award of eight new task order contract awards associated with the Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM Initiative, known as the NIH HEAL InitiativeSM. The total value for the eight contracts is more than $9 million. The contract awards’ duration ranges from one to five years.
The National Institutes of Health launched the HEAL Initiative in April 2018 to improve prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction and enhance pain management. The eight Emmes contract awards are among 375 grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements across 41 states made by the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2019 to apply scientific solutions to reverse the national opioid crisis.
The biotech is a step closer to getting its therapy for drug-resistant infections to patients.
WASHINGTON – The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today announced that industry veteran Jim Greenwood will step down as President and CEO of the world’s largest biotechnology organization after the 2020 election and help transition a new leader to represent the industry globally and to defend innovation from domestic political attacks.
The last 10 years have seen a rev o lu tion in drug de vel op ment. Time lines have short ened, par tic u lar ly in on col o gy. Reg u la tors have opened up. In vest ment has sky rock et ed. Chi na be came a play er. Biotechs have mul ti plied as gene and cell ther a py has ex plod ed — of fer ing ma jor new ad vances in the way dis eases are treat ed, and some times cured.
Image: llogene HQ Open House on September 17, 2019 in South San Francisco. (Jeff Rumans, Endpoints News)
A team of researchers has published evidence showing in mice that mitochondria-associated pathways in cell bodies and dendrites within the CA2 subregion of the brain’s hippocampus influence plasticity and mitochondrial respiration—a finding that highlights a potential molecular target for treating human neurodegenerative disorders ranging from autism to Alzheimer’s disease.
Image: Shannon Farris, PhD, a principal investigator at the Center for Neurobiology Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion
Thanks to a yearslong boom in the world of venture capital, keeping tabs on biotech means constantly reading that some so-called startup is suddenly worth more than $1 billion. But just who is putting the horns on all these unicorns?
Welcome back to “The Facts, STAT!”, a not-infrequent STAT video series in which our reporters briefly explain the need-to-know basics of issues in the world of health care and biotech.
Image: https://www.statnews.com – From Video
Venture capitalists are pouring cash into U.S. biotechs at a rate set to replicate 2018’s record deal count, according to PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association’s third-quarter Venture Monitor report.
In the first three quarters alone, VCs struck 609 biopharma deals — the majority of which were Series A or B — and contributed $11.5 billion in investments.
Notably, the average deal size shrunk from a 2018 high of $25.6 million to $21.2 million. That figure reflects growth in early stage investments but significant declines in late stage.
The number of investments that venture capitalists will make this year in pharmaceutical and biotech companies is on pace to match last year’s record—and that money continues to shift into earlier-stage deals.
Venture firms invested in 609 drug development deals as of Sept. 30, 2019, compared with 808 deals for all last year, according to the latest data from firms that track VC investments.
Since 2016, more than half of the money invested in pharma and biotech each year has been in the riskier angel, seed, Series A, and Series B stages, according to the latest Venture Monitor, a quarterly report published by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association.
