News Archive

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has signed a modification to its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to manufacture and store bulk drug substance for its botulism antitoxin, BAT® [Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) – (Equine)], valued at approximately $53 million with a five-year period of performance. This modification to the contract will enable future filling and deliveries of final drug product to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). BAT is indicated for the treatment of symptomatic botulism following documented or suspected exposure to botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A, B, C, D, E, F, or G in adults and pediatric patients.

It’s a bit of a strange world when a company growing at perhaps 5% per year, with downside risks, trades at 23X TTM EPS (historical GAAP numbers), but that’s completely par for the course. The S&P 500 trades near 25X TTM EPS.

Some competitors to Roche Holding AG (OTCQX:RHHBY) trade much pricier than it does. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is at 29X. Before a one-time payment to settle a patent suit that affected Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) Q4 EPS, MRK was around 32X. Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), a smaller player, is at 33X.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will spend $87.5 million over the next five years to continue a research partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and University of Maryland, College Park and to bring on additional partners, the universities announced Thursday.

Scientists from the participating universities will study high energy astrophysics, gravitational waves, space exploration and planets in the solar system at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, said T. Jane Turner, a professor of physics who runs UMBC’s arm of the program.

The US-based University System of Maryland has set up a $25m fund called Maryland Momentum Fund to support startups formed within the system’s 12 public institutions.

Julie Lenzer, co-director of UM Ventures, a joint initiative of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, said the university system had already committed $10m to the Maryland Momentum Fund.

Celebrate Your Organization’s Excellence in 2017!

Each year, UEDA members compete for our prestigious Awards of Excellence, which recognize outstanding, leading-edge higher education projects and initiatives promoting economic development and engagement. Never content to rest on our laurels, however, last year saw a significant revamping of the Awards program to reflect UEDA’s ongoing research on economic development and engagement in higher education. We hope you will join us!

Four weeks into my first semester of college, my academic confidence was completely shredded. I had back-to-back tests in cell biology, chemistry, and calculus, and my time management skills weren’t quite there yet. I failed my calculus exam, and suddenly I wasn’t sure I had the intelligence or the ability to get a degree in science.

A group focused on spurring regional cooperation to boost the economy wants to raise $3 million to $5 million to rebrand Greater Washington and challenge its reputation as an epicenter of politics and gridlock.

The 2030 Group, a consortium of businesses, organizations and executives, will unveil a new video and website Thursday that will serve as a sort of platform for future marketing efforts. Then a call to fund the regionwide branding effort will begin.

Agriculture Innovation to Commercialization (AgI2C) is a new 2017 initiative of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization in agriculture, natural resources, and environmental sustainability.  AgI2C will join the University’s innovation network that includes the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, Mtech in the School of Engineering, the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the University’s Office of Technology Commercialization.  

Initially, AgI2C will focus on: (a) incubating AGNR undergraduate teams to develop and pitch ideas for products and service, (b) offering an intensive Winter Term course for new graduate students, and (c) developing a learning and doing culture in AGNR academic courses.

2017 AgI2C Undergraduate Ideation Competition

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has partnered with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to launch its inaugural Agriculture Innovation to Commercialization competition. Learn more about the competition at http://agnr.umd.edu/agi2c/ideation-competition.

Dreamit Health recently announced its spring 2017 cohort of startups, and it’s medley of eight impressive early stage companies from all around the world.

The new group represents Dreamit’s 22nd cohort, and this cycle represents the accelerator’s fifth year in partnership with Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross. The selected startups are addressing everything from the patient experience to the medical workflow.

Can a pill make you younger?

One of the few drug studies ever carried out in an attempt to address this question was reported by Novartis on Christmas Eve 2014. The company had sought to see whether giving low doses of a drug called everolimus to people over 65 increased their response to flu vaccines.