News Archive

South Korean venture capital companies turn their eyes to promising biotech firms overseas, looking for a vehicle to accelerate their investment goals.

KTB Network recently joined hands with three Chinese venture capital companies to invest a total of 36 billion won ($30.1 million) in the country’s biopharma company CARsgen Therapeutics. The biotech company is highly praised for its immune cell therapy platform. It is working on a new method to treat patients with glioblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma with a goal to conduct a clinical trial next year.

Becton Dickinson’s (NYSE:BDX) decision to spin off its respiratory devices into a joint venture with Apax Partners will allow it to offload an underperforming segment and concentrate on its core business of diagnostics. And the agreement also highlights the growing involvement of private equity in the medtech industry.

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous contributions to genomic research. In addition to his past key positions, he is founder, current chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic, and environmental genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics.

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneurs will soon have another funding option for growing early phase startup companies.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has thrown its support behind the creation of a $100 million venture capital fund, which will help meet a need for early stage business startup capital in the Pittsburgh area. Philadelphia-based SG3 Ventures anticipates awarding its first round of funding in about a year, according to Brian McVeigh, vice president of worldwide business development transactions and investment management at GSK.

MedImmune has secured orphan drug designation from the the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its MEDI-551 neuromyelitis optica drug.

MEDI-551 is an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody indicated to treat neuromyelitis optica and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Inner Harbor is the latest site of a new Baltimore incubator.

With Harbor Launch, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) has designated areas of office and lab space specifically for biotech and environmental startups at Columbus Center (the big building with the sails on it near Pier Five).

Congratulations to Montgomery County Innovation Network Director John Korpela for receiving a service award from the Maryland Business Incubator Association on March 4 at the Germantown Innovation Center during its annual meeting. The award was presented by MBIA President Robert Snyder and recognizes John for his 12 years of service, leadership, and mentorship.

The Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking an outstanding individual to serve as Director of the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), Office of Intramural Research, Office of the Director. The OTT provides support to the technology transfer functions of the NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) that manage the patenting and licensing of inventions made by scientists in the NIH intramural research program. The OTT is responsible for negotiating amendments to these licenses and for patent license enforcement activities. OTT also manages the administration of royalties ($138M in FY2014), which are distributed to inventors, ICs where the inventions were made, and to co-inventors under Inter-Institutional Agreements. OTT manages multiple IT systems which track the NIH invention lifecycle including data and documentation workflows. It manages the docketing of all patent correspondence from contract law firms, receiving and processing new invention disclosures, marketing of NIH licensing opportunities, central reporting of NIH-wide technology transfer data, and necessary training in the use of the centralized database. The incumbent has overall responsibility for strategic and tactical operational planning, and financial management for the OTT. The Director of OTT reports to the Deputy Director for Intramural Research, NIH.

Angel investment funding in healthcare increased in 2015, compared with the previous years, according to a new report from the Angel Resource Institute and PitchBook. The 2015 Annual Halo Report found that healthcare deals accounted for 23 percent of angel investment.

When Inova Health System announced it would create a $100 million venture fund— unveiled as part of a splashy White House event last month highlighting precision medicine investments— it was just the kind revelation Inova has gotten so good at making in the last year.