It was easy to get my head around the biotech buzz and the digital health marketing blitz that happened last month at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
But here’s the question I heard most often (and gave me the most food for thought): “Can I meet more angels?”
The venture boom that funneled billions of dollars into life sciences companies last year included a big surge in first-time deals, according to a fresh analysis of the numbers for 2014. And the boom in venture investing looks set to continue well into 2015, according to the analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, working with data provided by Thomson Reuters to put out the MoneyTree report.
Roche and Qualcomm have entered into a new collaboration to improve remote monitoring and management of chronic disease patients.
The new deal between the Swiss cancer drug firm and the communication technology specialist will see Roche use Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform to capture data from a patient’s medical devices, beginning with anticoagulation metres, and transmit it to Roche’s cloud-based services.
Pharma Major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and Celon Pharma S.A. (Celon) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the companies will jointly develop a fluticasone/salmeterol dry powder inhaler (DPI) product which is a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus. Lupin will be responsible for commercialization of the product. Celon will supply the product to Lupin for its commercialization in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and other key markets. GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus® had global sales of over USD 7 billion as of last fiscal.
Moving to advance its leadership in developing vaccines for important public health and biodefense needs, Vaxin Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Immune Targeting Systems (ITS) Ltd. Vaxin is a clinical stage vaccine development company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. ITS develops novel T-cell vaccines at its operations in the United Kingdom and France. The deal is an all-stock transaction and is subject to customary closing conditions. The combined company will be known as Vaxin Inc.
Crystal City-based Disruption Corp. is partnering with Maryland-based Greenspring Associates, a $3 billion fund of funds that backs some venture capital firms that actively invest in the region, including New Enterprise Associates, Revolution Growth and True Ventures.
Ashton Newhall, co-founder of Greenspring Associates, told me he believes Disruption and Greenspring are “philosophically aligned” on the possibilities of using data analytics to make sounder investments in startups and the private market broadly.
At The MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum hosted at Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel on March 10 and 11, Healthbox’s Maria Siambekos will host a session about the growing role of healthcare accelerators. Do investors invest in them?
Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd, a drug discovery company focused on new therapeutics for respiratory diseases, today announced that it has secured £1.6m ($2.4m) in initial Series-A financing from Epidarex Capital. The proceeds will fund, in parallel, low molecular weight drug discovery and new target identification programs. The company will be based at the University of Sussex.
In today’s world, the average adult between the ages of 65 and 69 takes almost 14 prescriptions per year, and those aged 80-84 take 18 prescriptions. With the safety information for each medication constantly changing, it can be difficult for consumers to be informed about their medications.
This is a Request for Proposal to lease the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility located at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR), on the University System of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus at 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.
IBBR is a University System of Maryland joint research enterprise between the University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland Baltimore and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. IBBR’s Vision and Mission are as follows:
