News Archive

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell today named a new member to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) and renewed appointments for three members of the Health IT Standards Committee (HITSC). The committees are charged with recommending policies and technologies needed to implement a nationwide health information technology infrastructure and strategic plan. 

The two federal advisory committees were created through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The committees provide the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to provide direct input to HHS. 

A year ago Robert Lord and Nick Culbertson were medical students with an idea for a company.

Now their startup Protenus Inc. is doing business with Johns Hopkins Hospital, figuring out how to use $770,000 in seed financing and hiring staff members to get their cyber security system in more hospitals.

Vheda Health, a digital health company that seeks to help people with chronic conditions, is one of a handful of healthcare startups that have received backing from a commercialization fund from Maryland’s Technology Development Corp. They were part of a list of 15 companies that received $1.5 million. It follows a funding allocation from earlier this year.

The Maryland program allocates funding to companies developing technology products with universities and/or federal labs in the state. To qualify, companies have to be in a collaboration with a federal lab or university, they have to be located in an affiliate incubator company in the state, they have to be involved in one of two Maryland programs — ACTiVATE, an entrepreneurship training program aimed at women, or INNoVATE — or participate in TEDCO’s Rural Business Initiative. The focus is on small businesses so companies must have under 16 employees, or be a university spin-off under five years old or have venture investments under $500,000. More than half of the companies’ employees must work in the state.

Tuesday said its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, has agreed to buy privately-held Definiens, which would strengthen MedImmune’s focus on the discovery of novel predictive biomarkers in immuno-oncology.

Definiens is into imaging and data analysis technology, known as Tissue Phenomics, which dramatically improves the identification of biomarkers in tumour tissue.

Business accelerator DreamIt Health Baltimore plans to lay roots in the Inner Harbor.

DreamIt Health Baltimore is negotiating a lease as it prepares to welcome its second class of entrepreneurs in 2015. The accelerator, which is run by Philadelphia-area DreamIt Ventures, operated out of spare office space at a Johns Hopkins building in Fells Point this year. Managing Director Jason Hardebeck hopes to finalize a deal for between 5,000 square feet and 6,000 square feet of space in the coming weeks.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2015 FLC Laboratory Director of the Year Awards. Sponsored by the FLC National Advisory Council, this award honors Laboratory Directors who have made maximum contributions to the overall enhancement of technology transfer for economic development. Accomplishments related to the transfer of technology from the federal laboratory to industry—including support of FLC activities, internal accomplishments, industry involvement, and community service—are the primary criteria for the award.

The San Francisco-based digital health accelerator Rock Health has raised a large third round of funding and says it will boost its investments in new portfolio companies to (up to) $250,000 each.

The new funding round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, with participation from KPCB, Mayo Clinic, Montreux Equity Partners, and Great Oaks Ventures.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Silver Spring Civic Center-One Veterans Plaza
GPS Address: 8525 Fenton Street, Silver Spring

Meet Israeli entrepreneurs working in Maryland and Maryland companies trading with Israel at the MIDC’s fourth annual Showcase of Maryland/Israel Business.
Featuring keynote speaker, Jeremy Bash,Founder and Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies and former Chief of Staff, Department of Defense and CIA

Every once and a while you get a reminder that lives are literally at stake in some R&D partnerships. Last Wednesday was one of those days. I was privileged to moderate a panel for the Congressional Technology Transfer Caucus on innovative partnerships fostered by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) the newest center/institute at the National Institutes of Health. It was anything but a run of the mill tech transfer session.

We often hear that $2 billion to $5 billion are required to commercialize a new drug, with 14 years or more required for development and a 95% chance of failure. Less well known is that for thousands of serious diseases plaguing humanity only about 500 have FDA approved treatments available. Stark as that seems it’s downright cheery compared to rare or neglected diseases. Of more than 6,500 such ailments only 250 have treatments. While these may be “rare” diseases for many of us, to millions of our friends, families and neighbors each morning brings another day of suffering desperately hoping that someone, somewhere is working on a cure.

American Tap Room – 36 Maryland Ave Rockville, MD 20850

Join BioBuzz and our sponsor CRB for another great BioBuzz networking event on November 19th from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. @ American Tap Room in Rockville, MD. This location is a short walk from the Metro located in the Rockville Town Center.      

CRB is a global consulting, design and construction services firm that relentlessly pursues and delivers success for their clients in advanced science and technology industries. 2014 marks CRB’s 30th year in which they have grown from a single three-person office, to a team of 600+ in 12 offices serving clients throughout the world with Rockville, MD being their latest expansion.