428th Edition, October 21, 2020

Recordings of Keynotes, Panels and the Fireside Chat Available Online

The 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) Forum like many events in 2020, went virtual this year with over 1,200 online registrants and 59 speakers coming together. The Forum, which has been held at AstraZeneca (Formerly MedImmune) since 2014 in Gaithersburg, MD, brought together the BioHealth Industry with a full slate featuring leaders of industry, academia, and government. The common message throughout the entire agenda was how this region has continued to operate and innovate while working to help the world solve the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The 2020 Crab Trap Competition, typically held during the Forum, will take place at Noon on October 21st. The Crab Trap focuses on companies in therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare services, e-health, mobile health, electronic medical records, health informatics, and BioHealth cyber security. This years’ finalists include BrainScope, CARRTECH, Creative Bio-Peptides, innara HEALTH, and KaloCyte.

The entire 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region is currently available by visiting https://eventmobi.com/biohealth2020.

NOTE: If you haven’t already registered, please enter your information for immediate access. Click on the “Agenda” line to browser all the videos now available.

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The Sixth Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum brought together industry leaders from across the region who discussed the accomplishments and strengths of the region as its member companies continue to innovate new therapies and medicines in one of the strongest bio-hub regions in the United States.

The forum, which drew more than 1,100 registrants and included 59 world-class speakers and panelists, had a different look this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of gathering together in the heart of the BioHealth Capital Region at AstraZeneca’s Gaithersburg facility, the forum was held virtually. The event offered multiple panels and keynotes that highlighted advancements made in the region across several areas, including cell and gene therapies, the use of artificial intelligence and the ongoing battle against COVID-19.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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New Members Continue BHI’s Commitment and Mission in the BioHealth Capital Region

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, October 20, 2020 – The Board of Directors of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) unanimously approved the appointments of three new board members, Sally Allain, Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Joseph F. Sanchez, PhD, Director, Science Engagement, R&D North America, AstraZeneca, and Robert Silverman, Chief Business Officer, Alloy Therapeutics, Inc. BHI’s leadership also thanked outgoing Board of Director member Tracey Vetterick, formally of AstraZeneca for her contributions to the organization and support of many years.

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Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich joins BioTalk to discuss his Career Path, the BioHealth Industry and plans to support the Industry in MoCo.

Listen now on Apple https://apple.co/37dYS5Z, Google https://bit.ly/2IC4eOp, Spotify https://spoti.fi/2IDpN11, TuneIn https://bit.ly/31cjHuZ, and YouTube (Audio) https://bit.ly/31bsiho.

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BARDA Director of the DRIVe Catalyst Office, Justin Yang, Joins BioTalk to share how BARDA collaborates with the BioHealth Industry, partners with Incubators, and helps fund innovation.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3dqDyLH, Google https://bit.ly/3jZyeRU, Spotify https://spoti.fi/34YL9xg, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3k1uM9x.

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Maryland is on pace to see its second-largest funding year ever.

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The U.S. government is providing roughly $486 million to AstraZeneca to accelerate the Big Pharma company’s experimental Covid-19 therapy.

The funds will be used to advance AstraZeneca’s antibody combination, AZD7442, into two phase-III clinical trials. The last-stage studies, expected to begin later this month or early next month, will involve more than 6,000 study participants at sites in and outside the United States. (Phase-III clinical trials are typically the last hurdle a pharmaceutical company must successfully clear before seeking approval for a new drug candidate.)

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Adaptive Phage Therapeutics can take its therapy for superbugs to human trials.

Image: Dr. Carl Merril, third from right, with his son Greg, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, and other members of the team. ADAPTIVE PHAGE THERAPEUTICS INC.

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She aims to have a big presence in the local business community.

Image: Paula Sorrell is the new associate vice president of innovation and economic development at George Mason University. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

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What is MedTech Color?

MedTech Color is a non-profit organization focused on ensuring people of color enter, remain, and flourish in the medtech industry. There is immense untapped potential from people of color, and we’re committed to providing and promoting opportunities for them to make a meaningful contribution to the industry.

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JOHN WHYTE: You’re watching “Coronavirus in Context.” I’m Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer at WebMD. Today I’m joined by Dr. Stephen Hahn. He’s the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Hahn, thanks for joining me.

STEPHEN M HAHN: John, thank you. Really appreciate the opportunity, and it’s great to be part of this webcast.

Image: Stephen M. Hahn M.D.

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VC investment dollars hit a seven-quarter high in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2020: A total of $36.5 billion was invested in U.S. tech and healthcare companies, according to data from the MoneyTree Report by PwC/CB Insights. That’s up 30% from the second quarter. The total number of deals rose to 1,461 investments in companies, up 1% over the prior quarter.

It’s the second straight quarter of growth, indicating that a slowdown toward the end of March as the pandemic set in didn’t become the norm.

“Things are still going gangbusters,” said Brad Phillips, a director in PwC’s Emerging Company Services practice. “It’s been a relief for a lot of people that were in the market and just didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Image: Whitebox’s Baltimore team inside its Curtis Bay HQ. (Courtesy photo)

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“5 Questions With…” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features 5 Questions Martha Schoonmaker, Executive Director, Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC).

Martha Schoonmaker is the first Executive Director for the PIC MC Foundation, the entity that develops, manages, and markets the Germantown campus on behalf of Montgomery College for company locations. PIC MC is an integrated academic, business, and research campus and is the only community college with a hospital, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, located as the anchor resident partner.

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Mac Conwell hopes to raise an initial fund worth about $10 million for his new investment firm RareBreed Ventures.

Image: McKeever “Mac” Conwell, a local entrepreneur and investor, has launched his own venture fund called RareBreed Ventures. KAITLIN NEWMAN FOR BBJ

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This event is free for biotech leaders is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Children’s National Health System, Deloitte, JLABS @ Washington D.C., Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Department of Commerce, Quality Biologics, George Mason University, University System of Maryland and AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. Please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

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PALO ALTO — A big Southern California real estate and investment firm has gobbled up its latest in a string of Palo Alto office property purchases, a deal that extends a buying spree in the Silicon Valley tech hub that now tops $850 million.

Alexandria Real Estate, acting through an affiliate, has bought two Palo Alto office buildings on Hillview Avenue near Arastradero Road, acquiring a site that’s in the famed Stanford Research Park.

The deal suggests investors still seek to collect commercial properties in choice and prestigious locations despite the economic uncertainties that the coronavirus has triggered.

Image: https://www.mercurynews.com

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Thank you for your interest in the 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum on Monday, October 19, 2020 that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are thrilled to welcome executive-level biohealth industry leaders from across the country and overseas. To make the best use of your time and enable you to network with our 1000+ registrants and learn from the 58+ industry speakers, please use the instructions below to join our virtual event platform, https://eventmobi.com/biohealth2020

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October 14, 2020 – Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced today at the virtual 2020 HLTH conference the awardees for the JLABS @ Washington, DC Children’s, Maternal Health, and Diversity in Innovation QuickFire Challenges, which respectively aimed to catalyze pediatric innovation, improve maternal health in the United States, and support diverse innovators. These challenges embody Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s commitment to catalyzing potential solutions to today’s greatest healthcare challenges.

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At BioBuzz, we’re dedicated to bringing you interesting and important stories that emerge from the thriving life sciences ecosystem that is the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR).

The heart of the BHCR biohealth cluster is Maryland, with its vast network of government research agencies, the strong university system, and a deep network of established, emerging, and startup life science companies across a wide range of fields, including cell and gene therapy, advanced biomanufacturing, phage therapy, medical devices and more traditional biotech and pharma organizations. That’s not even to mention the remarkable efforts of myriad Maryland vaccine companies to develop the first approved, safe, and efficacious SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

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Emmes today announced that it was selected as one of the best places to work in the greater Washington area. The Washington Post’s 2020 Top Workplaces list ranked private, public, nonprofit and government agencies based on the highest engagement ratings from their employees. The Washington Post partnered with employee research and consulting firm Energage, and the process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture.

The Post’s annual survey honored 200 organizations as Top Workplaces. Emmes was selected in the large company category, which included organizations with between 500 and 999 employees. More than 3,600 area companies were invited to have their employees take the survey.

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If you’re located in New York City or the Silicon Valley, venture capital firms are abundant and well covered by the media — you can’t escape them. But entrepreneurs in the Baltimore-D.C. region don’t need to go so far to find a firm that could propel their startup to growth.

The local venture capital community is robust, with dozens of firms that invest in all sorts of industries, from healthcare to fintech to cybersecurity. And it’s part of the reason that in 2016, approximately $1.09 billion was invested in local high-tech startups by VC firms, placing the region in the top 10 funded clusters in the U.S.

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To meet the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed goals, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) today announced an agreement with AstraZeneca for late-stage development and large-scale manufacturing of the company’s COVID-19 investigational product AZD7442, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, that may help treat or prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

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Not every research project succeeds. And not every company survives. However, the ones that align with the culture of winning and sign up and adopt the community charter are opting in for a much higher chance of disrupting their industry and changing the rules of the game.

So, you are probably thinking it’s not important, right?

But it is… At the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, we have the unique ability to witness effective project teams daily. With over 200 companies creating breakthroughs from nanomaterials to self-driving vehicles, we have a ready-made ‘team laboratory’ to understand what works and how to scale.

Image: Brett Malone, Ph.D., President & CEO Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center

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