373st Edition – October 1, 2019

New Enterprise Associates Partner, Sara Nayeem, M.D., Joins Host Rich Bendis to Discuss Her Career, Venture Capital, and BioPharma

Sara Nayeem, M.D., is a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Sara joined NEA’s healthcare team in 2009 and focuses on investments in biopharmaceutical companies. She serves on the boards of Centrexion, Complexa, Cydan, Imara, and Tiburio. She previously served on the boards of Vtesse (acquired by Sucampo), Mersana (MRSN) and Therachon and as a board observer for Loxo Oncology (LOXO, acquired by Lilly), Tesaro (TSRO, acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), Clementia (CMTA, acquired by Ipsen), Nightstar (NITE, acquired by Biogen), Ziarco (acquired by Novartis), Omthera (OMTH, acquired by AstraZeneca), Epizyme (EPZM), Millendo (MLND) and Zyngenia. She has also been involved in other NEA investments such as Prosensa (RNA, acquired by BioMarin), Metacrine, and 3-V Biosciences. She also serves on the board of BioHealth Innovation Management. Prior to joining NEA, Sara was an Associate with Merrill Lynch’s Global Healthcare Group, where she advised biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies on numerous mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions. Previously, she worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley. She has conducted basic science research in mammalian cardiac development and clinical research in age-related macular degeneration. Sara concurrently earned her MD (cum laude) and MBA from Yale University, where she was a Yale MBA Scholar. She received her AB (magna cum laude) in Biology from Harvard University.

Listen now on iTunes (https://apple.co/2o1V6Il), Google Podcasts (http://bit.ly/2oGqQ6h), and TuneIn (http://bit.ly/2ndZGmO).

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You and your company team will be competing against other biotech firms to win the coveted BioBowl Trophy and bragging rights!

…Until next year

Date: Thursday, October 10th, 2019 Time: 4:00 – 6:30 PM (TBC) Location: Bowlmor – 15720 Shady Grove Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Invitation to follow.

Hosted by BioHealth Innovation and AstraZeneca

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“Top 3 By 2023” has been the slogan for the Biohealth Capital Region (BHCR) over the past few years adopted by many economic development and industry leaders across Maryland, DC, and Virginia.

After more than four years of organized effort across the BHCR, starting with the first Regional Biotech Forum back in 2015, there is a clearly defined strategy underway and substantial progress is being made towards achieving that goal.

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In this year’s GEN Top 10 report, Alexandria Real Estate Equities executive chairman and founder Joel Marcus was quoted about what factors will most likely drive the future creation of clusters for biopharma and other emerging life sciences.

“Clusters takeabout a generation, 25 years, to really evolve and develop,” stated Marcus, emphasizing the importance of thinking long-term for building a strong cluster.

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The New Orleans BioInnovation Center is the only organization dedicated solely to advancing life science entrepreneurship through technology commercialization in Louisiana. The Center works closely with local academic institutions and other economic development entities to help develop cutting edge research, curate pilot projects with healthcare providers, and attract necessary complementary funding.

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MADISON, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Redox today announced its third annual Healthcare Interoperability Summit, which will take place on Oct. 15, 2019 at the Aloft Boston Seaport Hotel. The conference brings together the most influential health IT professionals from around the country for a deep dive into one of the biggest barriers to innovation in health IT today – interoperability.

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One of the largest research contracts ever awarded to the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was announced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) this week, to the potential tune of more than $200 million over the next seven years.

Initially, the award will take the form of a $2.5 million contract to conduct clinical testing of influenza vaccines. It could be extended from there to up to $201 million. The research will be led by Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, a professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) and the only U.S. member of the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. Her research will cover the testing of improved seasonal influenza vaccines and conducting controlled human influenza challenge studies with the hopes of creating a universal vaccine for use against emerging influenza strains and improving current seasonal vaccines.

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Partners HealthCare is a global leader in healthcare research and development, with an immense capacity for innovation.

Partners HealthCare Innovation is the system’s business development arm that commercializes the insights and discoveries of researchers and clinicians at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and McLean Hospital, all of which are Harvard Medical School affiliates. The 125-member team was responsible for $154 million in commercial and investment income last year and at any given time is working on 2,000-plus active agreements.

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Herndon, VA, Sept. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) Request for Proposals (RFP) for FY2020.

The CRCF accelerates Virginia’s economic growth by supporting high-potential technology commercialization projects at Virginia’s public and private institutions of higher education, technology companies, and federal labs and nonprofit research organizations. A single solicitation for approximately $2.5 million will be offered in FY2020, through five programs: Commercialization, SBIR Matching Funds, STTR Matching Funds, Eminent Researcher Recruitment, and Matching Funds.

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The product would reverse the effects of chemicals that disrupt nerve function for military and other emergency situations.

Image: Bob Kramer is president and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions. COURTESY EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS

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A Baltimore medical device firm that aims to prevent kidney injury was awarded the $25,000 grand prize in the Beta City Venture Capital Pitch Competition.

Renalert was chosen as the winner of the live competition that took place Thursday evening during the fifth annual Beta City, a startup demo and networking event put on by Betamore and Sagamore Ventures at City Garage in South Baltimore. About 30 companies applied to the competition this year, and Renalert was one of five finalists chosen to present their concepts to a panel of judges. This year’s judges included representatives from Brown Advisory, Pitch Creator, Emerging Technology Centers, Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures and We Capital.

Image: Betamore Chairman Greg Cangialosi (middle) awarded Renalert CEO Aaron Chang (right) the grand prize for this year’s Beta City Venture Capital Pitch Competition. MORGAN EICHENSEHR

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) today announced a research grant awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, valued at approximately $6.3 million over two years, for the continued development of AP007, the company’s sustained-release nalmefene formulation for the treatment of addiction in opioid use disorder (OUD). AP007 is an extended-release formulation of nalmefene, an opioid receptor antagonist, intended to continually release an effective dose of nalmefene for up to three months and to be administered through intramuscular injection. The award is being made under the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or the NIH HEAL Initiative, which was launched to improve prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction and enhance pain management.

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In September 2012, when National Institutes of Health (NIH) neurologist Chris Austin took charge of a new translational science center, he faced a host of skeptics. In launching the new center, NIH Director Francis Collins said he wanted to re-engineer drug development to speed new treatments to the clinic. But some accused NIH of wanting to become a drug company or solve the pharmaceutical industry’s challenges—a notion one former CEO likened to believing in fairies. It fell to Austin to prove that the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences wasn’t going to compete with industry, but could give it new tools. After 7 years, the jury is still out.

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ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Emmes today announced that it was ranked as one of the 100 largest private companies in the Washington metropolitan area. The ranking is compiled annually by the Washington Business Journal.

The Emmes Corporation Logo (PRNewsFoto/The Emmes Corporation)

The company was ranked as the 83rd largest private company this year. Its most recently reported revenues were more than $114 million, and about 600 of the company’s 725 employees work in the Washington area.

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