News Archive

University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Glycocept, Inc. announced today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has granted Glycocept worldwide, exclusive licensing rights to a UMB patent and technology to modify monoclonal antibodies to alter their effector functions. Eric J. Sundberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and Co-Director, Division of Basic Science, Institute of Human Virology (IHV), and Beatriz Trastoy, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow at Dr. Sundberg’s laboratory at the IHV/UMSOM are the patent inventors. Biopharmaceutical industry veteran Ronald P. Dudek, who most recently served as Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Juno Therapeutics, Inc., is Glycocept’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Educational and Scientific LLC (ESL), announced today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) granted ESL exclusive licensing rights to its interest in the commercial development of a molecule whose anticancer properties were jointly discovered by ESL and UMB. The molecule has consistently demonstrated its potential for the treatment of a variety of cancers, particularly lung, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, pancreatic and prostate cancer.

Henry Lowe, Ph.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.H., an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) is the Founder of ESL. Dr. Lowe collaborated with Dr. Joseph Bryant, DVM, Associate Professor of Pathology and Director, Animal Models Division, at the UM SOM Institute of Human Virology (IHV) in the realization of this discovery.

Northwest Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: NWBO) (“NW Bio”), a U.S. biotechnology company developing DCVax® personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, announced today that the Company has entered into agreement for funding of $30 million from Woodford Investment Management in the UK (“Woodford”).

Woodford will purchase $30 million of the Company’s common stock at $5.50 per share, for a total of 5,454,545 shares, raising Woodford’s total holdings to 25,915,937 shares, or about 28.1% of the Company.  The purchase will take place in a closing on or before October 22, 2015.

Baltimore-based AgeWell Biometrics has been selected a member of the inaugural startup class with Relevant Health, a health technology startup accelerator in Rockville, officials of the accelerator said Tuesday. “Relevant Health chose candidates who have a vision and business model for a product that promises significant positive impacts in the health sector,” stated Rich Bendis, BioHealth Innovation…

This year’s FLC Mid-Atlantic regional meeting will take place in conjunction with the Innovation 2 Commercialization (I2C) Conference November 2 – 3 at the Universities at Shady Grove Conference Center in Rockville, Maryland. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend a variety of technology transfer (T2) sessions and network with regional entrepreneurs.

Centering on the theme of “Innovation Through Collaboration,” this year’s meeting highlights will include:

• Strategic T2 training sessions
• Technology industry needs panels
• FLC Mid-Atlantic regional awards presentation.

Onevest, a New York based investment crowdfunding platform focused on funding start-up entities, has announced the launching today of its new “1,000 Angles” crowdfunding vehicle. Touted as the “world’s largest digital-first, invitation-only investor network,” Onevest seeks to modernize the way venture capital funds are formed and how they invest.

1000 Angels will include OneVest co-founders Tanya Prive and Alejandro Cremades but the new spin on VC investing has added Erica Duignan Minnihan as Managing Partner, Barry Shereck as CFO and Dasha Sukovatitsyn as Membership Co-ordinator.

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has named the 11 local business leaders who will be charged with steering the county’s nascent economic development corporation.

The nonprofit Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. will replace the county’s Department of Economic Development when it launches in the spring. Change happens fast: Leggett first suggested the idea in February, formally proposed it in May and earned County Council approval in July.

More than 770 health care innovation companies are operating in Washington state, representing 6 percent of jobs in the state’s health-care industry, but producing more than 13 percent of the industry’s overall output, as measured by the value of the goods and services they produce.

Rockville’s MacroGenics Inc. is moving deeper into the cancer immunotherapy space with a new big pharma partnership.

The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which focuses on antibody-based therapies for cancer treatment and other diseases, announced it will work with Merck to study one of its molecules to treat stomach cancer. The companies will evaluate the antibody created by MarcoGenics in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda in a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial, officials said.

The Startup Maryland bus rolled around the state for three weeks last month.

Mike Binko and company cruised through Baltimore with Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest tour, and made it over the Bay Bridge to Eastern Shore coworking space hotDesks.

One day featured a stop at Spark in Baltimore’s Power Plant Live! and the University of Baltimore. The bus was in Montgomery County, before heading back up to Charm City for Baltimore Innovation Week’s Beta City.