News Archive

BHI is a public-private partnership with a mission of fostering commercialization of health and life sciences assets with a focus on the Central Maryland region that stretches from Baltimore to the suburbs of Washington, DC. BHI is known for providing commercial assistance to scientists and founders in the early-stages of forming new ventures and supporting the early growth of these ventures. Our goals are aimed at infusing a new class of growth companies in the vibrant biohealth ecosystem in Central Maryland and support the continued growth to be one of the leading clusters of biohealth economic activity in the world. BHI realizes this mission through our partnerships with the leading institutions from industry, government, academia and investment communities with a record of prominence and success within the industry. Our distinguished partners include MedImmune, Qiagen, Becton Dickinson, Roche, Emergent Biosolutions, Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Adventist HealthCare, SR One, NEA, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, M&T Bank, Greenspring Associates, Johns Hopkins University, and the University System of Maryland.

Many American cities are distinctly shaped by ties to other parts of the world. Washington has its Ethiopian community, and the restaurants that have come with it. Chicago has its Mexican neighborhoods, Minneapolis its Hmong culture, Miami its links to Cuba.

These differences — products of proximity or history or happenstance — are part of what makes New York feel culturally different from Atlanta. And they reflect the fact that New York and Atlanta look different to people living abroad.

Baltimore’s tech scene will get some time in the spotlight later this month when Steve Case’s “Rise of the Rest” tour rolls into town. The five-city roadshow, through which the AOL co-founder and former CEO plans to invest $1 million in early-stage technology ventures, kicks off in Baltimore on Sept. 28.

The bus tour, which is designed to bring attention and funding to startups beyond traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley or New York City, will also give Johns Hopkins University a chance to show the part it plays in supporting Baltimore’s bubbling culture of tech innovation.

Preparations are underway for a new hackathon focused on health and technology.

The first edition of MedHacks will be held Oct. 2-4 at the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy on the JHU Homewood Campus.

Following a $2 billion merger between DTZ and Cushman & Wakefield, David Gillece will head up the firm’s newly combined offices in Baltimore.

Gillece was regional managing principal with DTZ and before that held the same position with brokerage Cassidy Turley, which combined with DTZ last year.

Product development of any kind is challenging and full of unknowns, obstacles and pivots.

Medical device product development is certainly no different.

With med devices, when you throw in regulatory bodies, such as FDA and others internationally, it only complicates matters further.

University of Maryland Medicine (the University of Maryland Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine) and its Center for Metabolic Imaging and Image-Guided Therapeutics (CMIT) has begun to use MRI-guided focused ultrasound on a deep structure within the brain related to Parkinson’s disease – the globus pallidus.

In the first clinical trial of its kind, researchers from the Departments of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Neurosurgery and Neurology at CMIT are using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to guide ultrasound waves through the intact skin and skull to the globus pallidus. The University of Maryland is one of only two sites in the United States to offer this treatment to Parkinson’s patients.

ADC Therapeutics (ADCT), an oncology drug discovery and development company that specializes in the development of proprietary Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) targeting major cancers, today announced that it has raised $80 million through a private placement of equity. New investors include leading European and US-based investors alongside founding investor Auven Therapeutics and participation from AstraZeneca.

The proceeds will be used to progress ADCT’s product portfolio, including ADCT-301 for lymphoma and leukemia now in Phase I and a collaboration to develop up to two ADCs for commercialisation with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca. ADCT’s ADCs are highly targeted drug constructs which combine monoclonal antibodies specific to surface antigens on particular tumor cells with highly potent pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD)-based warheads. ADCT anticipates having seven drug candidates in human clinical trials in 2017.

D.C.-based startup incubator 1776, which filed with regulators last year to raise its first seed fund, announced Tuesday it has closed the fund at $12.5 million, half of what it had expected to raise.

1776 has backed 20 companies since launching the fund, co-investing with other groups including 500 Startups, Silicon Valley Angels and GovTech Fund. The fund typically invests an average of $100,000 in pre-Series A startups focused on highly regulated industries, such as health, education, energy and transportation.