Regenxbio (RGNX) announced that a gene therapy developed based on its technology was approved by the FDA. This gene therapy product is known as Zolgensma, which Novartis (NVS) now owns after acquiring AveXis for $8.7 billion back in 2018. While Novartis does own Zolgensma, it will have to pay royalties to Regenxbio on net sales for it. That means Regenxbio can start earning revenue for one of its very first products. The company is in good shape because it has many other gene therapy programs in its pipeline. The most notable one would be RGX-314, which is being developed to treat patients with wet age-related macular degeneration.

It’s the local company’s first step toward establishing an international presence after it was spun out last year from MedImmune.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to improve patient outcomes in cancers that are difficult to treat, today announced that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing to the Nasdaq Capital Market from its current listing on NYSE American.

The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) continues to grow rapidly with new startups and a greater number of clinical and commercial stage companies. The region expects to add approximately 2,000 life science-related jobs in the near term with more on the way. Whether it’s Kite Pharma building a new manufacturing site in Frederick County, MD, the growth of cell and gene therapy companies such as Autolus, Inc., REGENEXBIO, and RoosterBIO, Inc. or recent acquisitions of companies like Paragon BioServices, Inc., it’s evident that the BHCR is thriving.

This is the first raise for the business, which has been profitable and fueled growth organically up to this point.

A group of high school girls who wanted to create a local community for other young ladies interested in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) did so by organizing an all-girls math competition. Things turned out better than they expected at the inaugural InteGIRLS math competition on May 18 at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.

Viral safety is a critical focus during biopharmaceutical manufacturing (1–5). Although well-characterized mammalian cells such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) line have been used for decades, both endogenous expression of retroviral-like particles and exogenous contamination events from viruses warrant continued vigilance (6, 7). International regulatory agencies require biomanufacturers to validate the “viral clearance” efficacy of their downstream manufacturing process steps before resulting products can be awarded clinical trial or commercial approval (8–10).