News Archive

Gaithersburg-based biotech MedImmune entered an exclusive license agreement to work on vaccines targeting cancers caused by human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Under the agreement, announced Monday, MedImmune — the biologics research and development arm of U.K. pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) – will collaborate with immunotherapy company Inovio Pharmeuticals. Inovio’s “INO-3112” immunotherapy generates killer T-cell responses to destroy tumors associated with HPV. It is in Phase I and II clinical trials for cervical, head and neck cancers.

Bye bye, ‘burbs. Vasoptic Medical is officially a city company now.

The medical device startup, which is making a device that allows primary-care doctors to give diabetes patients eye exams rather than making an extra trip to the eye doctor, completed its move from Columbia to Locust Point. The company’s new office is within Mindgrub’s climbing-wall-outfitted space near McHenry Row.

Mobile health tools will be “a powerful equalizer” in terms of geographic health disparities, according to executives from the Aetna Foundation.

Aetna Foundation leaders Dr. Garth Graham, MaryLynn Ostrowski and Alyse Sabina said in a post on the Health Affairs blog:

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the launch of the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2015 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program competition to spur innovation capacity-building activities in regions across the nation. Under the 2015 announcement, SBA will commit $10 million for two funding opportunities:

In response to a request from the Congress, NIH is developing a 5-year NIH-wide Strategic Plan to advance its mission to support research in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems, and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce illness and disability. Senior leadership and staff from all 27 Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) are contributing to the proposed direction and content of the Strategic Plan, with input from the Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH. The framework below identifies crosscutting areas of research exemplifying the breadth of ICOs’ priorities and aims to outline a set of unifying principles to guide NIH in pursuit of its mission. The goal of this larger NIH-wide strategic plan is not to outline the myriad of important research opportunities for specific disease applications (as that is covered in the strategic plans from each of the ICOs, which will be referenced appropriately), but to highlight major trans-NIH themes. The Strategic Plan is due to the Congress in late December 2015.

Positive results of Symbiomix Therapeutics’ first pivotal trial for lead drug candidate SYM-1219, a single-dose, oral product candidate for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV), were presented today at the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology (IDSOG) Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The results from the multi-center, randomized Phase 2 trial showed that a single oral dose of SYM-1219 met the trial’s primary endpoint of Clinical Outcome Responder and was well tolerated for the treatment of BV. Based on discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at an End-of-Phase 2 meeting, the Company plans to submit the Phase 2 trial as one of two pivotal studies for a New Drug Application (NDA). A second pivotal trial of SYM-1219 is currently enrolling patients, with targeted completion by the end of 2015. If the second pivotal trial is successful, an NDA could be submitted in mid-2016.

Originally the national headquarters for WIB, the “Washington DC/Baltimore” chapter officially became its own chapter in October 2011. Located along the I-270 Corridor in Maryland and also covering DC, Northern Virginia and the greater Baltimore area, this setting is central to what Governor Martin O’Malley called, “one of the largest bioscience clusters in the nation, perhaps in the world.”

The WIB-Washington DC/Baltimore Chapter community is dedicated to creating opportunities and careers for women in the life science industry and to encouraging women in our region to translate novel discoveries into products. Our chapter symbolizes the significance of promoting the dynamic women in the biotechnology and life sciences industry in this area and globally. Our membership consists of professionals at leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device and diagnostics companies, non-profits, academic institutions, and support service companies, including law firms, consultants, and financial service firms.

MedImmune, a global biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca, has entered into an exclusive clinical trial collaboration with Mirati Therapeutics, US-based oncology firm focusing on genetic and epigenetic drivers of cancer.

As part of the deal, a Phase I/II trial will be conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MedImmune’s durvalumab (MEDI4736) in combination with Mirati’s mocetinostat in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with the potential to explore additional indications in the future.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized management to pursue a tax-free spin-off of the company’s Biosciences business into a separate, stand-alone publicly-traded company. The spin-off is expected to create two independent public companies with distinct strategic plans, growth strategies, and operational and development priorities.

The new Biosciences company, to be named at a later date, will focus on providing novel oncology and hematology therapeutics to meaningfully improve patients’ lives. The core technology of the Biosciences company will be its ADAPTIR platform applied to immuno-oncology. Emergent BioSolutions will continue to operate as a global specialty biopharmaceutical company whose core business is focused on providing specialty products for civilian and military populations that address intentional and naturally emerging public health threats.

GSK and Save the Children have launched their third annual $1 million healthcare innovation award that rewards innovations in healthcare that have helped to reduce child deaths in developing countries.

Organisations from across developing countries can nominate examples of innovative health approaches they have implemented till September 7, 2015. These approaches must have resulted in tangible improvements to under five child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated.