The White House on Friday appointed an executive director of its Cancer Moonshot Task Force: Gregory C. Simon, a leukemia survivor with experience in government, nonprofits, and the corporate world.
Entrepreneur Vivek Garipalli has a dim view of the way health insurance companies treat providers and patients. Patients develop trust with doctors and hospitals, and he thought insurers should be the “glue” between them instead of creating friction.
Medical device company Senseonics Holdings Inc. raised about $45 million last week in the first Greater Washington IPO of the year.
Senseonics (NYSE: SENS) originally planned to raise about $60 million by offering 18.2 million shares at a range of $3.10 to $3.50, but ultimately lowered the proposed deal size for the IPO.
While most agencies try to imitate advances in the private sector, the Department of Health and Human Services instead is emulating the process that fuels many recent innovations: startup accelerators.
Venture capitalists had a big year in Maryland in 2015.
In the fourth quarter of last year, they invested more than $451 million in 14 different Maryland companies — the largest quarter ever in the state since 2006.
Microscopic robots, powered by bacterial flagellation, are a curious branch of robotics research, potentially leading to devices that can deliver drugs, perform surgical tasks, and help out with diagnostics. While bacteria has been harnessed in the past to power small devices, having those devices actually navigate to a desired target has been a challenge. At Drexel University researchers are now using electric fields to help their bacterial biobots detect obstacles and float around them on their way to the final destination.
Looks like ARCH Venture Partners is gearing up for its ninth fund, with aims to raise $400 million, according to a regulatory filing. The Chicago-based early stage venture firm has a deep history in tech and life sciences investments – with some notable recent plays like Illumina offshoot Grail, Harvard 3D printing spinout Voxel 8, and Doug Williams’ brainchild Codiak Biosciences.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Miltenyi Biotech said they will partner to develop new cell and gene therapies through a collaboration whose value was not disclosed.
The collaboration is designed to combine GSK’s expertise in developing cell- and gene therapy–based treatments with Miltenyi Biotec’s global leadership in cell processing and related technologies in cell therapy, the companies said.
The biotech investment climate sank into deep insecurity by the close of 2015, as shown in EP Vantage‘s new “Pharma & Biotech 2015 in Review” report. The flutterings around companies raising capital, via venture capital or IPO, diminished – which invites a retrospective on the investment environment in years past. Perhaps this will help inform how cash-hungry companies will fare this year.
Montgomery County’s Bethesda Hyatt will be the venue for the CONNECTpreneur XVIII Forum on April 28. The event, which will be held 7:00 to 11:00 am, features a “fireside chat” with serial entrepreneur and CEO Mark Walsh.
With more than 250 CXO’s and investors, along with a strong lineup of speakers and presenters, the Big Idea CONNECTpreneur XVIII Forum is shaping up to be a record-setting event.