News Archive

Mark Cuban has had a bumpy relationship with the healthcare community, but his approach seems to be evolving with a recent step into the world of healthcare venture capital.

According to Inc., the Shark Tank host is the latest to note the issues with healthcare’s middlemen, and has decided to do something about the problem by specifically targeting pharmacies. Cuban describes his vision as a world without the Main Street staple of modern healthcare delivery, predicting that “over the next 15 to 20 years, medicine will be so personalized there will be no drugstores.”

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) Request for Proposals (RFP) for FY2017. The solicitation opens today and Letters of Intent (LOIs) are due by Thursday, November 10th. Award announcements are planned for early June 2017.

The CRCF grows Virginia’s economy by supporting high-potential technology commercialization projects at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities, the private sector and nonprofit research institutions. A single solicitation for $2.8 million will be offered in FY2017, with five programs available for funding: Commercialization, SBIR Matching Funds, STTR Matching Funds, Matching Funds and Eminent Researcher Recruitment.

VLP Therapeutics, LLC. announced today that it has received a grant for approximately US$960,000 from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (“the GHIT Fund”) for early-stage research to develop new vaccines for dengue fever using virus-like particles that would target all four strains of the virus. Dengue fever is one of the world’s most serious public health problems, threatening more than half the world’s population, and infecting 50 to 100 million people every year.

Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI) and Nature Technology Corporation (NTC) announce today that they have entered into a new license agreement. The licensing of NTC’s RNA-OUT™ and HyperGro™ technology is part of ITI’s expansion into developing nucleic acid immunotherapies for cancer.

ITI believes that LAMP-Vax immunotherapy platform has the potential to transform nucleic acid vaccine therapy. Although additional studies are needed to confirm clinical benefit, LAMP-Vax has the potential to specifically direct the cancer antigen into a processing part of the cell for more efficient presentation to the immune system. Last year, this approach gained important commercial validation when Immunomic Therapeutics entered into significant licensing agreements with Astellas Pharma Inc., totaling over $315 million in upfront payments, as well as potential future milestones and royalty payments.

BioBuzz and Elite Sponsor the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) are excited to announce a special event that lands right in the middle of the Oktoberfest season. Flying Dog Brewery will be our guest as we bring together the worlds of biotech and beer to show how closely related they really are. We are proud to have BioBuzz Double Helix Sponsors CRB and BREP along with Azzur IT as Co-Sponsors for this event.

Before the general networking begins, Flying Dog CEO, Jim Caruso, and COO/Head Brew Master, Matt Brophy will be on the IBBR Auditorium stage from 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. to speak about the company and everything that goes into the process of brewing their beer.

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Emergent BioSolutions a five-year, $198.7 million contract to further mature the development of an anthrax vaccine in preparation for a Food and Drug Administration license.

The HHS office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Emergent BioSolutions will work to validate the effect of the vaccine candidate NuThrax and verify its safety as part of the contract, HHS said Friday.

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, the pediatrician Priscilla Chan, announced plans last month to spend $3 billion over the next decade fighting diseases. Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan said they hoped their project — including a $600-million investment in the Biohub, a new physical lab space for universities in the Bay Area — would help scientists and engineers cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century.

AstraZeneca’s global biologics research and development arm MedImmune has entered into a licensing agreement with Allergan for the global rights to MEDI2070, which is currently in a Phase IIb clinical trial for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease and ready for Phase II for ulcerative colitis. Under the terms of the deal, Allergan will make an upfront payment to AstraZeneca of $250m for the exclusive, worldwide licence to develop and commercialise the drug.

The 2017 FLC Awards is now open for nominations.  One of the most coveted honors in the technology transfer field, the FLC Awards have been presented to over 200 federal laboratories since their inception in 1984. Many of our winning technology transfer efforts have gone on to become products and devices that are indispensable in our daily lives, including:

• Digital mammography to detect breast cancer (2002)
• Rechargeable lithium batteries (2004)
• Plug-and-play Ethernet adapter for high-speed downloads of files, music and videos (2005)
• Gardasil™ vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus (2007)
• Proton therapy system used to treat prostate cancer (2008)
• Robotics used to improve vehicle manufacturing and safety (2011)
• Apple trees developed to resist diseases and insect damage (2015)
• Truck side guards that help prevent collisions with pedestrians and cyclists (2016)

Maryland lawmakers voted in March to unite the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. This legislation, which aims to increase the prestige of the university system, goes into effect today. The MPowering the State partnership between the two schools paves the way for new initiatives to bring more funding to the campuses and attract more businesses and services to each respective community.