News Archive

Although the concept of immunotherapy has been around for more than a century, it only gained prominence as a method of targeted cancer therapy in the early 2000s. In 2015, Merck’s Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), a checkpoint inhibitor drug, made headlines as a breakthrough therapy for melanoma after former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was treated with it. Keytruda had just received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first anti-PD-1 therapy, and its highly-publicized success created a frenzy in the media; followed by the initiation of scores of immuno-oncology (I-O) clinical trials.

The healthcare services and technology market is growing rapidly, which creates opportunities, risks, and structural questions for companies in the sector and those in the broader healthcare value chain.

The Wall Street Journal just ran an interesting interactive feature looking at where college grads move after graduation. They looked at 445 schools, and tracked destinations by metro area. They discovered that graduates, particularly from stronger schools, are flocking to major metro areas. The Big East, Ivy League, Pac-12, Big-12, ACC, and Big Ten are all over 70% in sending college grads to major metro areas (but see below for caveats).

Research to develop life-saving products, including new vaccines and other products to protect against deadly drug-resistant bacterial infections, got a significant boost today.

The UK Government’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have joined the CARB-X partnership to support scientific research around the world to develop new vaccines, preventatives, and other products against drug-resistant bacterial infections, particularly among vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries.

New York State will invest $30 million into the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset as part of the state’s $72 million investment to support three transformative, economic developments on Long Island, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

Results from a multi-year clinical trial testing hyperbaric oxygen as an intervention for US military service members who have experience mild traumatic brain injuries with persistent symptoms were published recently in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal.

AI and Big Data allow innovators to leverage neuroscientific knowledge at scale to untapped markets.

We would all like our brains to be more powerful – especially those of us with reason to fear the effects of advancing age or a degenerative illness. For the entrepreneurs behind widely promoted “brain-training” apps like Lumosity, the universal desire for cognitive improvement translates to lucrative opportunities. Some scientists and clinicians, too, have hopped on the bandwagon, seeking avenues to lend their expertise to the business world while theoretically bringing cognitive enhancement to the masses.

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is a nonprofit organization focused on supporting BioHealth entrepreneurs and related industry growth in Montgomery County and the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, D.C. and Virginia).  BHI is seeking an energetic and motivated Marketing Intern to assist with communications and marketing-related projects. This position is estimated to be 15-25 hours per week, would start immediately, and continue for 12 weeks.  In addition to the responsibilities listed below, the intern may attend meetings and programs to understand the full work of BHI and how the organization accomplishes its mission through constituent outreach and support, commercialization and partnership activity.

StonebridgeCarras and The Donohoe Companies announced plans today for their project at 8280 Wisconsin Avenue which will focus its 175,000 square feet of commercial space on bringing life sciences to the Bethesda Central Business District (CBD).  StonebridgeCarras and Donohoe’s vision for the project is to capitalize on two converging trends:  employers locating their offices in live, work and play environments with access to mass transportation; and life sciences companies co-locating near thought leaders and institutions driving research and advancement.

Protenus has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. The complete list of this year’s winners, in alphabetical order, is available here. Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring ranked lists of all the winners along with the October 1 issue.