News Archive

Digital health has a pretty erratic grade point average, or so says Dana Mead, a parter at venture firm Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers. He outlined and graded what he called the five most important elements of the digital health ecosystem at Qualcomm Life‘s Connect2014 conference this week in San Diego, and this is how he slices it:

1. Access to Capital – A

Looking at data over the last quarter, Mead said that about $700 million in funding has been raised in digital health. That’s more than medical device startups raise, about two-thirds of what pharma and biotech raise and about a third of what software/IT companies raised in the same time period. So, not a bad showing for digital health, Mead said.

The Rockville Science Center has found a temporary office home in the midst of an ongoing search for a permanent facility.

The science center’s administrative office, previously at the VisArts at Rockville center, moved this month to the Johns Hopkins University’s campus in Rockville.

Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals (Sigma-Tau) has signed an exclusive US license agreement with Ireland-based Crosscare, to market and distribute Colief Infant Drops for the treatment of colic.

As part of the deal, Sigma-Tau will be responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Colief in the US.

Sigma-Tau has planned a re-launch of Colief at healthcare professionals as well as consumers in August 2014.

Monday, September 22, 2014

NHLBI’s Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC) hosts this semi-annual Regional Innovation Conference to connect small businesses, angel investors, venture capitalists, strategic partners, and business leaders from the biotech, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries. Attendees will see featured presentations from NHLBI-funded companies, and learn from staff about recent changes in the Federal SBIR/STTR program, and other funding opportunities and cost-free resources available to small businesses.

Previous conferences have been held in Boston, MA, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA, and Rockville, MD.

Highlights/ Features:

• Company presentations 
• Hear about innovative technologies for heart, lung, blood and sleep disorder and disease indications from companies who have received (non-dilutive) SBIR/STTR funding 
• How to market your innovation 
• Our expert panel of investors, legal advisors, and successful entrepreneurs will talk about the highs and lows of early-stage life science investment 
• Networking 
• Ample opportunities to network with potential partners,  investors, and NHLBI staff

Johns Hopkins University’s FastForward business accelerator is so popular the school is expanding it to a second location.

FastForward, which is part of Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering, launched last year and is already at capacity with a total of 33 startups and projects. Administrators plan to expand the program in January to accommodate the high demand among students and faculty.

The BioMaryland Center is partnering with Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) and the Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) to incorporate improved health care quality and cost reduction criteria in the selection process for the BioMaryland Center’s annual Biotechnology Awards program. $1M will be awarded to projects, $50,000-200,000 each, advancing technologies toward commercialization–with preference given to projects which improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

October 1st is the deadline to apply for the next round of Biotechnology Development Awards. More information regarding the program is available online.

How to Apply: Two application forms (the Non-confidential Applicant and Project Summary form and the Confidential Application Details form) and a business plan must be submitted electronically by 5 p.m. EST on October 1, 2014.

The Maryland Venture Fund (MVF), the equity investment arm of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), has made follow-on investments totaling $700,000 in two of its portfolio companies. KoolSpan, developer of a suite of patented, hardware-based mobile security encryption solutions, received $400,000. BrainScope, which is pioneering sophisticated neurotechnology to quickly assess traumatic brain injury at the initial point of care, received $300,000. Both companies are located in Bethesda. The investments were made with funds raised by InvestMaryland, Governor Martin O’Malley’s key initiative designed to spur growth and development of small, high-tech companies in Maryland.

“KoolSpan and BrainScope have both made tremendous progress since the Maryland Venture Fund first invested in them, and we are excited to make these follow-on investments,” said Governor O’Malley. “In Maryland we are committed to supporting the growth of future leaders in industries that keep us safer, healthier and better connected than ever before. KoolSpan and BrainScope are perfect examples of the innovative, high-tech companies that set Maryland’s economy apart and provide the family-sustaining jobs of today and tomorrow.”

August 20th, 3-5 PM

MdBio Foundation welcomes you to an open house on the mobile laboratory MdBioLab. Tour the lab, meet the team, or just eat your ice cream – doors open 3 – 5 PM.

KICK OFF THE SCHOOL YEAR WITH AN ICE CREAM CONE AND TOUR OF MDBIOLAB.

MdBioLab will be parked at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21044, Lot F – adjacent to Little Patuxent Parkway

When four professors of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, decided to start Strand Life Sciences in 2000 to aid clinical research through genomic testing using DNA sequencing, the initiative hardly attracted attention. UTI Ventures pumped in $1.3 million a year later and, in 2002, WestBridge Capital Partners invested $1.9 million, but that did not create ripples either. However, things changed dramatically in 2013, when Strand got $10 million from San Francisco-based financial firm Burrill & Co.

It used the capital to roll out personalised genetic test services in collaboration with hospital chains and clinics across India, including Max Hospitals, Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Center, St. John’s Medical College Hospital, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology and HealthCare Global Enterprises.