News Archive

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) announced today that it has expanded its relationship with BGI, the world’s largest genomics organization, to provide QIAGEN’s Ingenuity® Variant Analysis™ in integrated bioinformatics for all customers of BGI’s sequencing services.

Under the reseller agreement, BGI customers will receive sequencing data generated from their samples through Ingenuity Variant Analysis’ secure, cloud-based environment and gain access to its leading comprehensive gene variant data and genomic interpretation applications. BGI will provide Ingenuity Variant Analysis to customers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with plans to expand to other regions throughout the year. BGI collaborates with more than 10,000 organizations and 30,000 partners worldwide, providing sequencing services for thousands of research projects, including large-scale genome initiatives.

Metro areas with strong startup ecosystems depend on success stories and market conditions that converge over time. In the best of circumstances, a regional community can become stronger than the sum of its parts, moving the needle for industries nationally – or even worldwide.

On Wednesday, big names from D.C.’s tech and business circles will come together at DC Inno’s State of Innovation event at Artisphere to discuss the area’s future for young startups. One of the hot topics for the evening will be exactly how an innovation ecosystem comes together. Tackling the question will be local leaders from Eastern Foundry, Video Blocks, Arlington Economic Development and Springboard Enterprises.

Fresh from unveiling a $3.1B fund, New Enterprise Associates is the sole investor in a $3 million Series A round by MORE Health. The health IT startup wants to connect Chinese doctors and their patients with U.S. specialists across areas such as oncology, neurology, cardiology and pediatrics.

As part of its investment, Xiaodong Jiang, managing director for NEA China, will take a seat on the company’s board of directors. NEA has been in the China market for 12 years and has invested about $400 million in 20 companies there.

The Company: Noble Life Sciences (Gaithersburg, MD) is a rapidly growing contract research organization (CRO) that provides a continuum of preclinical drug, vaccine and medical device development services, from discovery to GLP-compliant studies for regulatory submissions. The company offers in vitro and in vivo services, including cellular and animal disease model development and experimental design, non-GLP and GLP animal efficacy, toxicity, biodistribution and product release studies in both small and large animals, and vivarium services. The company also offers custom antibody production services and research animal and tissue products.

The Company operates out of two Maryland-based facilities – in Gaithersburg and Woodbine where it operates as Spring Valley Laboratories, a unit of Noble Life Sciences, offering a range of GLP and non- GLP studies with a primary focus on GLP and large animal testing. Noble is AAALACi accredited, USDA licensed, OLAW compliant, FDA inspected and successfully audited by numerous clients.

The Position: The Director Account Development is a key position within the organization with significant prospects for career growth as the company continues to increase the breadth and scope of its business. This position reports directly to the President and is a member of the management team.

At DC Inno we are constantly on the look out for the next innovative local company. Over the past several months, one of the most interesting industries we have had the opportunity to cover is the virtual reality (VR) sector. Virtual reality is immensely cool and as a medium, it offers a host of exciting applications and uses. In the past, the technology was so expensive that it offered little to many consumers, but that is now changing. With the proliferation of new, consumer-targeted devices—like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard—more people are finally getting the opportunity to experience VR.

How well do you understand science?

Jon D. Miller, director of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, has been asking people in the United States and abroad that question since 1988.

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) today released an update to two critical state policy reports which identified gaps in coverage and reimbursement, and physician practice standards and licensure.

“After ATA issued the State Telemedicine Gaps Reports last September, many state regulating bodies responded by looking at how their laws and regulations impact healthcare delivery in their state,” said Jonathan Linkous, CEO of ATA. “As a result of state actions across the nation, ATA reevaluated the indicators for each state and issued new reports.  As before, we anticipate that these reports will serve as an incentive to increase the utilization of telemedicine to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of healthcare.”

With molecular diagnostics projected to grow to a $7.6 billion industry by 2017 (Kalorama) and surpass $8 billion by 2020 (Grand View Research), the field is seeing growing interest from both corporate giants and smaller specialized companies.

On the corporate side, the largest players include such familiar names as Roche, Qiagen, Becton Dickinson, and Abbott, as well as more recent arrivals such as Hologic, Grifols, and bioMérieux. Yet the past few years has also seen a growing number of smaller companies devoted to MDx by focusing on specific technologies or disease areas (especially cancer).

U.S approval of GlaxoSmithKline’s newest respiratory inhaler continues the global drugmaker’s shift from the blockbuster drug Advair to a suite of drugs that will be assembled at the British company’s Zebulon manufacturing site.

GSK said Thursday the company and business partner Theravance won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market Breo Ellipta for asthma. The drug had been approved in 2013 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but it failed to win approval for sale to minors as GSK officials had hoped.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved IXINITY(R) [coagulation factor IX (recombinant)], an intravenous recombinant human coagulation factor IX therapeutic for the control and prevention of bleeding episodes and for perioperative management in adults and children, >=12 years of age, with Hemophilia B. Hemophilia B is a bleeding disorder caused by a mutation on the factor IX gene resulting in a deficiency of clotting factor IX in the blood, which controls bleeding.