Teachers’ unions provided a lot of the muscle to get the Affordable Care Act passed, but now they’re working to overturn one portion of the law that stands to affect their members: the law’s excise tax.
The National Education Association on April 29 signaled its support for a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., that would repeal the tax, which goes into effect in 2018.
Having secured a funding boost for the National Institutes of Health in the 21st Century Cures legislation, House Democrats now say the Food and Drug Administration would be ill-equipped to handle the new burdens under the bill without more resources.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, raised the matter during a hearing Wednesday on the latest iteration of the legislative package, which is intended to accelerate the pace of innovation in medical drug and device development.
U.S. legislators recently released a discussion draft of the medical innovation bill known as the 21st Century Cures Initiative. The legislation aims to hasten the discovery, development, and delivery of new medical devices and drugs, particularly for the treatment of thousands of diseases for which there are no cures.
The proposals in the draft include ways to revamp how agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) foster and regulate medical innovation in the U.S.
District investor group NextGen Angels has raised $1 million from 24 of its members to finance expanding to two more cities.
The local angel group, which currently boasts 85 members, has a similar presence in New York City and very recently set up a Boston location. CEO Dan Mindus told me Austin and Chicago are the next two cities on the list, with 10 more cities slated in the next 12 to 18 months. Those include Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland and San Diego.
Gaithersburg company to use funds to add staff and upgrade equipment to meet demand
Angela Graham, President and CEO, accepts check from DED’s Valerie Fremont and Gene Smith Quality Biological, Inc., an industry leader in manufactured ready-to-use biological research tools, has been awarded an EDF Grant by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development (DED) to support the expansion of their fulfillment operations. The award, funded from the Montgomery County Economic Development Fund (EDF), will be used to upgrade and modernize equipment needed to meet requirements from local and regional customers. The company, headquartered in Gaithersburg, plans to add 10 new jobs as part of the expansion.
Bungalow Insurance won the $30,000 Perlman Grand Prize of the 2015 Wharton Business Plan Competition. The prize was awarded at the Wharton School’s annual Venture Finals on April 30, 2015, where student finalists received more than $128,000 in combined cash prizes and in-kind legal/accounting services.
Twenty-four Maryland executives were named Maryland regional finalists for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
The annual award program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence in innovation, financial performance and commitment to their businesses. Winners will be announced June 25 at a gala at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.
OrderUp Inc. CEO Chris Jeffery, Medifast CEO Michael MacDonald and Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. CEO Lisa Rusyniak are among the Baltimore-area business leaders named as finalists.
When George Scangos took the helm at biotech giant Biogen in 2010, he took a look around the company’s headquarters in the Weston, Massachusetts, suburb of Boston and thought, “What are we doing out here?”
Last year, the company celebrated the return of its headquarters to Cambridge’s Kendall Square, one of the capital cities of the biotechnology industry. The neighborhood’s 2.5 square miles are home to 130 life sciences companies, according to industry group Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the densest concentration on the planet.
MAY 7-8, 2015 • BETHESDA NORTH MARRIOTT HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTER
Sessions on cancer immunotherapeutics, RSV vaccines, HIV, TB, and malaria vaccines, and models for regional synergy in vaccine development all await you at the Atlantic Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics Summit on May 7-8 at the Bethesda North Marriott. Renowned speakers will be leading sessions highlighting local innovation that is having a global impact. We are excited to announce that Stanley Erck, President and CEO of Novavax, will be leading a session titled, “The Next Billion Dollar Vaccine.” Mr. Erck was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Novavax in April 2011. He became a Novavax Director in June 2009 and beginning in February 2010, served as its Executive Chairman of the Board. From 2000 to 2008, Mr. Erck was President and Chief Executive Officer of Iomai Corporation, leading the company through an initial public offering and a merger with Intercell, an Austrian vaccine company, and through the development of a late-stage infectious disease product candidate. Prior to Iomai, Mr. Erck served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Procept, a publicly traded immunology company; as Vice President, Corporate Development at Integrated Genetics (now Genzyme), and in management positions within Baxter International. Mr. Erck currently sits on the Board of Directors of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, MaxCyte, Inc., and the MdBio Foundation.
Call it serendipity. When the management team behind Foundation Medical Partners decided to shift their investment strategy away from medical devices and therapeutics in favor of health IT, the name change to Flare Capital Partners coincided with an exit. IBM Watson snapped up its portfolio company Explorys in a big announcement at HIMSS this month. Explorys, a Cleveland Clinic spinout, is a predictive analytics company that amassed a huge amount of data to develop cognitive insights for clinical decision support.
“The timing was nice” but entirely coincidental, according to Flare Capital General Partner Michael Greeley who spoke to MedCity News in a phone interview Wednesday night.
