286th Edition – January 9, 2018

Are you worried about protecting your Intellectual Property?  What about trademarks?  Have you thought through your patent strategy?  How do you manage patents globally?Are worried about protecting your Intellectual Property?  What about trademarks?  Have you thought through your patent strategy?  How do you manage patents globally?

Learn about these issues and more from experts at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati who will provide advice through 1:1 sessions and seminars at the Montgomery County Innovation Centers on January 18th.

Preregistration is required.  For more information, please contact BHI@BioHealthInnovationorg by Noon, January 17th.

What You Need to Know:

Seminar and/or 1:1 Office Hours with experts from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Rockville Innovation Center

8 a.m.-9 a.m. – Networking Breakfast and Presentation (RSVP)

1:1 Office Hours (pre-registration required):

9:10-9:40 a.m.  

9:45-10:15 a.m. 

10:20-10:50 a.m. 

10:55 – 11:25 a.m.  

11:30 – 12:00 p.m. 

Germantown Innovation Center

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Networking Lunch and Presentation (RSVP)

1:1 Office Hours (pre-registration required):

1:40 – 2:10 p.m. 

2:15 – 2:45 p.m.  

2:50 – 3:20 p.m. 

3:25 – 3:55 p.m.  

Contact us for more information

Read More

NexImmune, an emerging leader in the field of antigen-directed immunotherapy, announced the closing of a Series A financing co-led by new investor ArrowMark Partners and existing investor Barer & Son Capital, along with significant participation from Piedmont Capital Partners. In conjunction with the financing, Tony Yao, MD, PhD, a Partner at ArrowMark Partners, will join NexImmune’s Board of Directors.

Read More

MacroGenics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MGNX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as various autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases, announced today that it had entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. to jointly discover and develop novel bispecific molecules to undisclosed targets. During the research term, both companies will leverage their respective platforms, including MacroGenics’ DART® platform and Roche’s CrossMAb and DutaFab technologies to select a bispecific format and lead product candidate. Roche would then further develop and commercialize any such product candidate.

Read More

Canton-based Personal Genome Diagnostics closed on $75 million in Series B funding and plans to triple its square footage with a new office.

Read More

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the initiation of a Phase 2 dose ranging study to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, and clinical benefit of FLU-IGIV, the company’s anti-influenza immune globulin being developed as an intravenous treatment for serious illness caused by influenza A infection in hospitalized patients.

Read More

The grants came through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Science Foundation.

Read More

Emmes is proud to have advanced Glaucoma research w/ support from @NatEyeInstitute! Our 1st ophthalmic trial (published in @AmJOphthalmol) showed little visual field deterioration in pts w/ low intraocular pressure

Read More

WellDoc®, a leading digital health company, announced today that its clinically proven hemoglobin A1C reductions for users of its BlueStar® digital therapeutic with type 2 diabetes can translate into significant healthcare cost savings.

Read More

Silver Spring, Md.-based United Therapeutics Corp. and the FDA are duking it out in court over whether the agency improperly denied the biotechnology company seven years of orphan drug exclusivity for its drug Orenitram.

Read More

Centrexion Therapeutics, a Boston-based startup led by ex-Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler, just raised $67 million to bring its painkiller drug into Phase III trials. If it works, the treatment should appease regulators concerned with addiction problems, as the drug is a non-opioid and non-steroid way to treat pain.

Read More

Are you interested in investing in Montgomery County’s future workforce? Sign up to be a career experience host for WorkSource Montgomery’s Summer RISE program at Summer-rise.com! 

Play a key role in a successful initiative that provides Real Interesting Summer Experiences to rising Montgomery County Public School’s juniors and seniors. Last summer, the program supported career exploration and industry insights for more than 360 students with the help of over 185 host organizations.  Summer RISE 2017 hosts had rewarding experiences, saying their students were professional, creative, engaged and motivated to learn.  

Read More

A Baltimore startup developing artificial organ technology has raised about $3 million in equity funding, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

Medical device firm Breethe Inc. reported the round this month, which included 22 investors.

Read More

The GammaPod ™ – a first-of-its kind stereotactic radiotherapy system to treat early stage breast cancer – has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), paving the way for the manufacturer to bring the system to market for the treatment of breast cancer patients.

Read More

Cancer research helmed by a Johns Hopkins radiation oncology professor is the first to receive backing from a fund backing work that might create startups.

Read More

RightEye LLC, an award-winning technology innovator using eye tracking to revolutionize patient care and vision performance, announced today it will be debuting its new RightEye EyeQ system tonight at CES Unveiled Las Vegas at 5:00 p.m. at the Mandalay Bay Shorelines Exhibit Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada. EyeQ gives people a closer look at their health using quick, computer game-style vision tests on an eye-tracking computer. The tests, which only take a few minutes, generate an instant EyeQ Report that provides results in an easy-to-understand format to support discussion with doctors on diagnosis and recommended therapies.

Read More

Alexandria Real Estate recently completed a large building on the west side of Lake Union and now it’s starting to plan one on Eastlake.

Read More

It’s hard to believe that the book has already closed on 2017. As we turn the calendar to 2018, I wanted to pause and share some highlights from MdBio’s monumental last twelve months. Partners, supporters and STEM advocates like you are instrumental to our success – thank you for all that you have done in support of MdBio and our programs.

Read More

The use of biomaterials, such as microneedles and nanoparticles, in immunotherapy and vaccine research is a hot topic in bioengineering. But to get the maximum return on investment in these ideas, they need to be seeded among clinicians, according to Christopher Jewell, Ph.D., associate professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Jewell is the principal author on a new paper in Trends in Immunology that reviews the current state of biomaterials research with an eye toward inspiring multidisciplinary teams of engineers and clinicians to solve some of the complex problems in immunology today.

Read More

Blockchain startup Akiri has received $10 million in Series A funding to develop a distributed ledger platform for health data.

Read More

More than ever, academic technology transfer is driving economic development.

• The number of invention disclosures — a direct measure of institutional impact on innovation — has been on the rise the past five years, growing to 25,825 in 2016.
• 16,487 new U.S. patent applications were filed, a gain of 3 percent over the prior year, and 7,021 U.S. patents were issued, up 5 percent from last year.
• The 1,024 startups formed made a direct impact on local economies with more than 73 percent of these new businesses remaining in the institution’s home state.
• Consumers and businesses benefited from 800 new products.

Read More

Originally, the BIVF was designed to put investments of up to €10-15m into early stage companies focused on immunomodulation, tissue regeneration, small and large molecule drugs, and new therapeutic modalities. The fund, launched in 2010, had a volume of €100m, 22 portfolio companies from which already one exited (Okairos).

Read More

Scott Gottlieb seems like the pharmaceutical industry’s idea of a dream FDA Commissioner, with pharma ties and an ideological bent toward deregulation.

Read More

Currently, we depend upon the eyes, ears, and touch of medical staff to examine the human body and diagnose patients. Physicians must identify abnormalities of the skin, check for any bodily irregularities, examine complex MRIs, listen for arrhythmias, and inspect CT scans day in and day out. While all of these tasks seem routine, they actually test physicians’ knowledge about everything that could possibly be wrong with the human body.

Read More

2017 was an extraordinary year in the history of medicine. It was the year when scientists beat cancer, and U.S. regulators approved the first therapy to fix a faulty gene. It was also a year that kept us enthralled with a quickening drumbeat of breathtaking news detailing spectacular advances – trials seemingly curing patients of hemophilia A and sickle cell anemia, and breakthroughs raising similar hopes for Huntington’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and even HIV.

Read More

The 4th annual Biotech and Money/Medtech and Money World Congress will offer insight into the investment landscape for biotech and medtech companies via a series of panel discussions with leading investors in the sector. Those attending the two-day event in London can hear from experienced investors about the current state of funding for life science companies at varying stages of development. This includes a focus on seed funding, with panel discussions on ‘Seed funding for biotech development’ and ‘PanEuropean medtech seed funding’.

Read More

Making predictions can be a tricky business. Nevertheless, Xconomy recently brought together some of San Diego’s most prominent life sciences leaders to offer their vision for what the regional biotech cluster will be like in five years.

Read More

I expect progress. Here’s my list of major trends and issues that will affect the lives of cancer patients in 2018:

Read More

A drug development company has raised $76 million from investors in China, the United States, and Korea to move its headquarters to the Philadelphia area from Jinan, China, and bring treatments developed by China-based scientists through U.S. clinical testing to patients here.

Read More