News

ROCKVILLE, Md. and SUZHOU, China, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ascentage Pharma (NASDAQ: AAPG; HKEX: 6855), a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing, and commercializing therapies to address global unmet medical needs primarily for hematological malignancies, today announced that its drug, olverembatinib, has been granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), for combination with low-intensity chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of newly-diagnosed patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

USP publishes Vulnerable Medicines List to inform efforts to reduce risk and increase supply chain reliability for patients 

Rockville, MD – The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) today published the “2024-2025 Vulnerable Medicines List for the United States: A data-based approach to identify risks and enable interventions to increase reliability of supply”. This list complements other resources, such as FDA’s essential medicines list. 

Using the USP Medicine Supply Map and other resources, USP identified 100 vulnerable medicines – 49 used to manage chronic conditions and 51 for acute care – to encourage dialogue and action to bolster medicines supply chain resilience. A public list of medicines vulnerable to shortage can help stakeholders work more effectively to make the medicine supply chain more reliable for patients. 

Life sciences company developing a cost-effective production process for cancer immunotherapies

COLUMBIA, Md., (March 5, 2025) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $500,000 Life Sciences Investment Fund (LSIF) investment in Irazú Oncology. The LSIF is nestled under the umbrella of TEDCO’s Seed Funds and is dedicated to supporting qualifying startups with an FDA pathway.

“At Irazú Oncology, we are committed to developing cancer therapies that are both more versatile and accessible to patients worldwide,” said Jeff Strovel, CEO of Irazú Oncology. “TEDCO’s support has been instrumental in advancing our innovative platform. Their MII program and strategic investments have enabled us to accelerate our research and development efforts, bringing us closer to our mission of delivering more effective cancer treatment options. I would encourage researchers and emerging biotech companies to explore the remarkable opportunities that TEDCO offers to help translate promising science into life-changing therapies.”

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX) today announced the closing of its previously announced strategic partnership with Nippon Shinyaku.

Under the terms of the agreement, REGENXBIO and Nippon Shinyaku will develop and commercialize RGX-121 (clemidsogene lanparvovec) for Mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II), also known as Hunter syndrome and RGX-111 for Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I), also known as Hurler syndrome in the United States and Asia.

POTOMAC, MD / ACCESS Newswire / March 4, 2025 / IGC Pharma, Inc. (“IGC” or the “Company”) (NYSE American:IGC) today announced an advancement in its Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) platform with the development of a new AI-driven model designed to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other causes of dementia. With Alzheimer’s accounting for approximately 60-80% of all dementia cases, alongside other conditions such as vascular disease, Lewy body disease, and frontotemporal degeneration, accurate diagnosis is critical to ensuring the right treatment strategy.

Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide, causing progressive cognitive decline, memory loss, and behavioral changes. Despite its widespread impact, current diagnostic methods often rely on invasive procedures, expensive imaging, and subjective clinical assessments, leading to high rates of misdiagnosis and delayed treatment.

GAITHERSBURG, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GeneDx (Nasdaq: WGS), a leader in delivering improved health outcomes through genomic insights, announced today an indication expansion for its industry leading genetic testing to now include cerebral palsy (CP). In conjunction with Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, the company is expanding its strategy of focusing on pediatric rare disease patients to now include offering testing for pediatric patients with CP. This strategic indication expansion underscores the importance of improving access to exome and genome testing for patients with CP to shorten the diagnostic odyssey and accelerate the path to treatment.

Since I have been raising and deploying a venture fund focused on addressing health of women lately, I have had numerous occasions to be in rooms where the discussion ended up at “it’s really hard to raise venture capital for women’s health companies.”  The whole discussion of venture funding for women’s health (and by women’s health, I do NOT mean things that are limited only to conditions faced ONLY by women) is getting a lot of play lately as many organizations have, thankfully, risen to the occasion of developing funds to drive this market forward.  Granted, most of these funds remain on the small side and there are many entrepreneurs competing for these fresh new greenbacks, but hey, progress is progress.

By Annabel Baldy – In November’s What’s the Buzz?! LinkedIn Live session, Chris Frew, CEO of BioBuzz and Tammi Thomas, Chief Development & Marketing Officer, TEDCO explored TEDCO’s profound influence on Maryland’s entrepreneurial landscape. For over 26 years, TEDCO has played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of technology and life science startups, driving innovation, creating jobs, and strengthening the regional economy.

The TEDCO Entrepreneur Expo: Connecting Entrepreneurs to Resources
A key highlight of the discussion was the TEDCO Entrepreneur Expo, held in December in Baltimore. As a premier networking event, the Expo provides entrepreneurs with access to critical resources, direct connections with industry leaders, and insights into funding opportunities. Events like these are essential for cultivating an environment where startups can thrive. TEDCO’s funding programs not only inject capital into the economy but also fuel job creation and technological advancements.

By Kevin Davies, PhD – March 3, 2025 – After an illustrious career including 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and leading the international Human Genome Project (HGP) consortium, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, announced his sudden resignation from the NIH over the weekend.

He joined the NIH in 1993, a guitar-playing physician-scientist (and born-again Christian) who could not resist the challenge of helming the sequencing of the human genome. “How could I walk away from the chance to lead such an historic enterprise?” he wrote.

Collins served three presidents during his 12 years as NIH director, including the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also served as chief White House science advisor to President Biden, accepting the position following the sudden resignation of his HGP ally, Eric Lander, PhD. Throughout his tenure, Collins maintained his research lab at the NHGRI, publishing a paper in GEN’s sister peer-reviewed journal, The CRISPR Journal, led by Lori Bonnycastle, PhD, 12 months ago on the generation of induced pluripotent stem cell lines using prime editing.

By Alex Philippidis – February 26, 2025 – The FDA has granted Priority Review to Precigen’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for its lead candidate PRGN-2012, the company said—a step forward for a gene therapy that, if approved, would be the first treatment indicated for adults with the rare disease of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP).

The FDA also set an August 27 target date for deciding on Precigen’s BLA under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). PRGN-2012—which Precigen has begun to call by its generic name of zopapogene imadenovec—is a gene therapy designed to elicit immune responses directed against cells infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) 6 or HPV 11.