News

18 projects will receive funding to support their growth and development

COLUMBIA, Md., (June 27, 2024) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced the 2024 Maryland Makerspace Initiative Program (“Makerspace Program”) awardees. Funding will be awarded to 18 projects spanning across nine (9) counties and Baltimore City.

“TEDCO is committed to supporting the continued growth of innovation in Maryland. The Makerspace Program is just one tool that TEDCO has to promote this expansion,” said Terry Rauh, chief finance and operations officer at TEDCO. “And after witnessing the success and growth of last year’s awardees, we are hopeful that these awardees will continue the trend.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amazon Web Services committed $10 million to fund pediatric rare disease research, including cancer, on Wednesday at its annual summit in the nation’s capital.

The tranche of cash is first being allocated through three, $1 million grants to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.; Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; and the Children’s Brain Tumor Network, located at the Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia. 

AWS says the unrestricted cash grant will allow the children’s cancer centers, which are already using AWS software, to continue innovation in accelerating pediatric research, improving well-being for children and empowering the professional pediatric workforce and caregivers of children. 

In Montgomery County, where incubator spaces are in high demand and existing facilities often have to turn away new entrepreneurs and startups, a new opportunity has emerged. Amador Bioscience’s recently announced incubator space in Germantown promises to help address this critical need, offering fledgling life sciences companies the space, resources and support they require to develop their projects beyond initial concepts.

Amador Bioscience is a translational and early clinical development partner for companies developing new drugs. Set within its existing but unused laboratory space in Germantown, Amador’s new incubator offers more than 10,500 square feet of lab and office space with state-of-the-art infrastructure designed to meet the diverse needs of life sciences startups.

COLUMBIA, Md., June 25, 2024 — Welldoc^®, a leading digital health company specializing in AI-driven cardiometabolic health, today announced a collaboration with Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, to transform healthcare delivery for health plans and members by bridging the gap between nutrition and health. Through enhanced access to quality care and nutritious food, Welldoc aims to improve health outcomes and reduce overall costs of care for individuals managing cardiometabolic conditions.

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX) today announced it initiated enrollment in a new cohort of patients ages 1-3 in its Phase I/II AFFINITY DUCHENNE^® trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of RGX-202 in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne).

RGX-202 is an investigational one-time AAV Therapeutic targeted to deliver a novel microdystrophin, representing the next wave of innovative design in Duchenne gene therapy. RGX-202 is the only gene therapy approved or in development for Duchenne that incorporates the C-Terminal domain, making the RGX-202 transgene the closest to the naturally occurring dystrophin gene.

ROCKVILLE, Md. and SUZHOU, China, June 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK), a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing novel therapies for cancer, chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and age-related diseases, announced today that the agreed equity investment by Takeda has been closed on June 20, 2024, with all proceeds already received. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Ascentage Pharma has allotted and issued an aggregate of 24,307,322 subscription shares to Takeda International at the share purchase price of HK$24.09850 (equivalent to approximately US$3.08549).

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its drug product facility in Baltimore-Camden to an affiliate of Bora Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (“Bora”, TWSE: 6472), a leading international pharmaceutical services company, for a total value of approximately $30 million. The Camden site, which is part of Emergent’s Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), has clinical and commercial non-viral aseptic fill/finish services on four fill lines, including lyophilization, formulation development, and support services. Alongside the facility, approximately 350 current Emergent employees are expected to join Bora as part of the transaction.

Ianne Salvosa June 18, 2024 – Efforts are afoot to make Richmond more of a player in the biohealth industry.

Downtown-based Activation Capital is launching the Frontier BioHealth program to provide training and mentorship for up to 10 startups from August to November to groom life sciences companies in the area for the long term.

Activation Capital Vice President of Entrepreneurship Jim Pannucci said the program is a nod to the group’s original mission to help the region and the VA Bio+Tech Park be a hub of biotechnology. Activation Capital operates the park, while supporting entrepreneurship and startups in the region through various programs.

The Bio+Tech Park was established about three decades ago to turn Richmond into a center of biotechnology and now about 70 companies and research facilities operate in the area, with interests ranging from smoke-free tobacco alternatives to organ donation.