News Archive

The Emmes Corporation today announced the completion of a pivotal clinical trial for a new product developed by IDx that could help in detecting diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in the United States.  IDx-DR is a fully autonomous AI-based diagnostic system that analyzes images of the retina for signs of diabetic retinopathy, providing instructions for follow-up care based on the level of disease detected. IDx-DR has been granted expedited review by the Food and Drug Administration.

Montgomery County continues to experience a steady rise in employment since 2014, a positive change from stagnant growth in prior years. Montgomery County recorded over 550,000 employees, an increase of 2.6% from last year and trended above the then year average of 516,360. Montgomery County’s unemployment rate continued to contract and ended Q3 2017 with a rate of 3.2%, down from 3.3% from November 2016.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced executive management changes that continue to align its organizational structure to its long-term strategy and to the achievement of its near- and long-term growth objectives. Specifically, effective today, the company’s board of directors promoted Robert G. Kramer Sr. to the newly-created position of president and chief operating officer, and appointed Richard S. Lindahl as the company’s new executive vice president and chief financial officer.

NexImmune, an emerging leader in the field of antigen-directed immunotherapy, today announced that Scott Carmer has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Carmer has served as NexImmune’s Chief Operating Officer since 2015. In addition, Kristi Jones has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and Alan Roemer has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The state of Maryland and the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. (AAEDC) announced today their support of Paragon Bioservices’ new commercial manufacturing facility under development in Anne Arundel County and the addition of 200 new jobs over the next four years. Earlier this year, Paragon, a leading biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines, announced plans to lease 150,000 square feet in the BW Gateway development on Harmans Road.

Akonni Biosystems Inc. and Chinese in vitro diagnostics company, Righton, announce a commercial agreement that enables Righton to sell Akonni’s products for nucleic acid purification and molecular diagnostics to researchers, clinical laboratories, and hospitals in China. The products to be sold include TruTip®, Akonni’s best-in-class sample preparation technology, which is low-cost and simple, yet highly effective at purifying DNA and RNA from the most difficult sample types. In addition, for diagnostic applications, Righton plans to commercialize Akonni’s TruDiagnosis® system based on the proprietary TruArray® multiplexed diagnostic solutions. Righton has made an equity investment of $7.5 million USD in Akonni’s series D fundraising round bringing the total investments in the Series D round to $13.9 million USD.

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Tuesday a county matching fund for businesses that receive federal grants.

Councilmember George Leventhal spearheaded the grant, which was co-sponsored by the eight remaining council members.

WellDoc®, a leading digital therapeutic company, announces today the formation of its scientific advisory team whose expertise spans cardiology, health behavior, endocrinology, primary care and pharmacy-based diabetes education and care. Richard Katz, MD, Janet Duni, RN, BSN, MPA, CCM, Pablo Mora, MD, Nancy D’Hondt, RPh, CDE, FAADE, Edwin Fisher, PhD and Charlene Quinn, PhD have each been involved in WellDoc’s digital health journey with product enhancement, evaluation, or implementation and have been asked to now formally serve as scientific advisors to the company.

Pharma major Lupin announced the launch of its Carbidopa Tablets 25mg having received an approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier.

Lupin’s Carbidopa Tablets, 25mg is the generic equivalent of Aton Pharma, Inc.’s Lodosyn® Tablets, 25 mg. It is indicated for use with carbidopa-levodopa or with levodopa in the treatment of the symptoms of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (paralysis agitans), postencephalitic parkinsonism, and symptomatic parkinsonism, which may follow injury to the nervous system by carbon monoxide intoxication and/or manganese intoxication.