What comes to mind when you think about your body?
Most people might imagine an intricate network of blood vessels or the complex neural circuits of the brain. Or we might picture diagrams from the iconic medical textbook, Gray’s Anatomy.
With preparedness solutions that address emerging infectious diseases to chemical and biological threats, protecting and enhancing lives is at the heart of everything Emergent BioSolutions does. Emergent develops vaccines, therapeutics, and devices for some of the most notable diseases and threats in modern history, including Zika, Ebola and Anthrax.
PathSensors, Inc., a rapidly growing, Baltimore-based biotechnology company focused on delivering pathogen detection solutions, announced today that it has been awarded a $7.2 million contract from the Department of Defense – Washington Headquarters Services to provide CANARY reagents and technical support to Department of Defense Facilities in the National Capital Region. The program includes the manufacture of reagents, equipment support and the development of products for new and emerging threats. The contract extends through 2023.
As stated by Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, “the gap between ‘sci-fi’ — that which was once imagined — and ‘sci-fact’ — that which becomes manifest and real — is shrinking.”
The new chief executive had joined the company in January — after selling his last biotech company for several million dollars.
A Zika vaccine candidate co-developed by Emergent BioSolutions and Valneva has turned up positive early-stage results, laying the groundwork for a potential technology transfer to Emergent.
Market conditions for venture funding remained very strong in the third quarter of 2018. Deal size and pre-money valuations across all equity rounds decreased slightly but still remained high by historical standards. Median pre-money valuations inched down across the board in Q3 2018. The decline in median amounts raised was more significant, with Series B financings taking the most significant hit, and with the median size falling nearly 50% from the prior quarter. However, more post-Series A financings were up rounds, reversing the decline seen in the first half of 2018.
Between clinical objectives, financial concerns, patient needs and complex payer dynamics, there seem to be too few hours in the day for healthcare executives to address the diverse set of organizational goals they are tasked with accomplishing.
GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLYC) announced today dosing of the first patient in the company’s Phase 3 clinical trial of uproleselan (GMI-1271) in relapsed/refractory AML. The trial’s protocol provides for administration of the investigational drug in combination with MEC (mitoxantrone, etoposide and ara-C) or in combination with FAI (fludarabine, ara-C and idarubicin), both of which are standard of care for this indication in the United States. In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to GlycoMimetics for uproleselan in this patient population. The company anticipates the initiation of two complementary Phase 2/3 trials from two leading clinical consortia in early 2019.
Results from a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of Emergent BioSolutions’ (NYSE:EBS) Zika vaccine, VLA1601, showed a favorable safety profile for all doses and schedules tested and encouraging immunogenic activity.