435th Edition, March 2, 2021

Alexandria Venture Investments Senior Associate, Conley Jones, virtually sits down with Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss Venture Trends, Investment Goals, and their National Footprint

Listen now on Apple http://apple.co/3sCbtaH, Google http://bit.ly/3kG3MgX, Spotify http://spoti.fi/3kKNGmt, and TuneIn http://bit.ly/3uGvJtJ.

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Don’t miss a unique opportunity to discuss your biohealth technology innovation directly with Program Officers from NSF, various institutes at NIH, the University of Maryland MIPS program, and others.  Learn the latest about the current areas of focus for nondilutive funding resources, tips for submitting successful applications, and additional resources to support your early-stage company.  Confirmed speakers and partnering meeting participants include:

• Henry Ahn – Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Lynne Stein Benzion – Director, Economic Development, Montgomery County Econ. Dev. Corp. (MCEDC)
• Katie Bratlie – Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Christie Canaria, PhD – Program Director, SBIR Development Center, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Judy Costello – Managing Director, Economic Development, BioHealth Innovation (BHI)
• Stephanie Davis, PhD – Small Business Program Coordinator, NIH Nat’l Heart Lung & Blood Inst. (NHLBI)
• Sharon Disque, Economic Development Manager, City of Gaithersburg, Maryland
• Stephanie Fertig, HHS Small Business Program Lead, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Jonathan Franca-Koh, PhD – Program Director, SBIR Development Center, National Cancer Inst (NCI).
• Armineh Ghazarian – Program Analyst, NIH National Institute of Aging (NIA)
• Colleen Gibney, SBIR Deputy Project Manager, USAMRMC (DoD)
• Todd Haim, PhD – Chief, Office of Small Business Research, NIH National Institute of Aging (NIA)
• Elena Koustova, PhD, MBA – Director, Office of Translational Initiatives and Program Innovations (OTIPI), NIDA SBIR/STTR Coordinator, NIH National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Office of Director
• Ashwin Kulkarni, COO, miRecule; Associate, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI)
• Carla Merritt, Senior Business Development Representative, Maryland Department of Commerce
• JR Meyers, SBIR Project Manager, USAMRMC (DoD)
• Alastair Monk – Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Deepa Narayanan – Program Director and Team Lead, NIH National Cancer Institute SBIR Development Center (NCI)
• Rini Pek PhD – Senior Analyst, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI)
• Erik Pierstorff – Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Victor Prikhodko – Senior Business Dev. Mgr., SBIR/STTR NIH National Inst. of Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Monique Pond, PhD – Program Director, SBIR Development Center, National Cancer Institute
• Reema Railkar, PhD – Program Manager, SBIR Development Center, National Cancer Institute
• Saroj Regmi, PhD – Health Science Administrator, Office of Small Business Research, NIH National Institute of Aging
• Andrea Renner – SBIR Deputy Project Manager, USAMRMC (DoD)
• Ethel Rubin, PhD – Entrepreneur-in-Residence, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI)
• Anthony Saleh, PhD – CEO, miRecule
• Ben Schrag, PhD – Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• John Sullivan – Entrepreneur-in-Residence, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI)
• Onur Unal, Manager, Life Sciences Projects, Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS), Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTech), University of Maryland

Register (no fee) today!    www.tinyurl.com/2021SBIR

To see the full agenda, Click here.

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 A free, virtual Forum focused on the growing Digital Health industry in the Baltimore/Washington region and beyond, presented by EAGB & BHI.

The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (www.greaterbaltimore.org) and BioHealth Innovation (www.biohealthinnovation.org) have partnered to host a Forum focused on the growing Digital Health industry in the Baltimore/Washington region and beyond. The Forum is free and will be held virtually on March 25, from1 – 3:00 pm. There is no fee and all are welcomed, but you must register in order to receive the link to the event.

The Digital Health Forum features two panel discussions and a moderated conversation. Brief welcome comments by Rich Bendis and Michele Whelley, CEO of BHI and EAGB, respectively, will open the Forum.

• PANEL ONE: The Role of Academia in Digital Health
• PANEL TWO: Digital Health in Healthcare
• CLOSING CONVERSATION: International Collaboration in Digital Health

Visit https://bit.ly/DigitalHealth21 to learn more and register for this FREE Event today.

Sponsored by: First National Bank, Olive, and TEDCO

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This free webinar will feature a fireside chat-style conversation with Dr. Robert Scharpf (Delfi Diagnostics) and Dr. Christie Bergerson (Exponent). Drs. Scharpf and Bergerson will discuss how machine learning and artificial intelligence are impacting biomedical engineering and the wider world of human health.

Rich Bendis (BioHealth Innovation/BioTalk podcast) will facilitate the discussion. View the speaker bios for more information.

After the main session, participants will have the opportunity to join one of three, smaller breakout sessions:

• Meet and Greet with the Featured Speakers – Continue the conversation with Drs. Scharpf and Bergerson for an informal Q&A session about their work and the field.
• Careers at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology – Join Rich Bendis and other industry representatives in exploring career opportunities in the emerging biotechnology, data science, and public health fields. 
• What is Biocomputational Engineering? Learn about UMD’s new bachelor’s degree – Join program staff to learn about the exciting new University of Maryland degree aimed at preparing students for careers in the data science and biotechnology sector. Launching in Fall 2021 at the Universities at Shady Grove, this program is conveniently located in Rockville, MD – a biotech powerhouse just outside the nation’s capital.

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Richmond, VA., February 22, 2021 – Phlow Corp., a public benefit essential medicines solutions provider, and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) today announced a strategic alliance to develop a new laboratory that will certify and validate Pharmaceutical Continuous Manufacturing processes resulting in affordable, high-quality, U.S.-manufactured essential medicines. Throughout its 200-year history of setting standards for medicine quality, USP has been providing validated scientific methods used by manufacturers and regulators to determine what “good quality” looks like. The methods developed through this strategic alliance will be available for use by other domestic generics manufacturers to encourage broader adoption of Pharmaceutical Continuous Manufacturing in order to strengthen the U.S. drug supply.

USP, a global, scientific not-for-profit organization located in Rockville, Maryland, develops public standards that establish the quality expectations for medicines, collaborating with scientific experts from the academic, industry, and healthcare practitioner communities along with the U.S. FDA. The alliance will facilitate Phlow’s application of “flow” chemistry and other continuous advanced manufacturing processes to produce the crucial ingredients that enable domestic, end-to-end drug manufacturing of essential medicines that have been or are at risk of being in shortage thereby contributing to a more resilient medicines supply chain.

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Emergent BioSolutions’ contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) business is playing a crucial role in supporting the battle against COVID-19. The company has contracted with multiple vaccine makers, including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, to manufacture the preventative medications.

It’s a critical role not taken lightly by the employees in the company’s two Baltimore-based facilities. Sean Kirk, executive vice president of Manufacturing and Technical Operations at Emergent, said the importance of the work taken on by Emergent, as well as the biopharma industry at large to battle the pandemic is not lost on him.

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Shares of Altimmune Inc. ALT were down 4.8% in trading on Thursday after the company said it started enrolling participants in a Phase 1 clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Altimmune is developing a single-dose nasal spray vaccine. The study is expected to enroll up to 180 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55 years old, who will receive one of three doses of the experimental vaccine. The company said it expects to share the first batch of clinical data from this trial in the second quarter of this year. Altimmune’s stock has soared 969.9% over the past 12 months, while the broader S&P 500 SPX is up 21.7%.

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PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. and GERMANTOWN, Md. and HILDEN, Germany, Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and INOVIO Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO) today announced an extension of their partnership with a new master collaboration agreement to develop liquid biopsy-based companion* diagnostic products based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to complement INOVIO’s therapies. (*Complementary when referring to the US regulatory pathway.)

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ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 23, 2021– GlycoMimetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLYC) today announced the promotion of Eric Feldman, M.D., to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Feldman joined the Company in 2019 and was previously Vice President, Global Clinical Development.

“Eric is internationally recognized for his work in the development of new therapies for the treatment of leukemias and related bone marrow disorders, and in the past two years, has established himself as a leader in our management group as well as in the trenches with our clinical operations team. Having spent his career dedicated to patients with hematologic malignancies, he is especially well positioned to lead our uproleselan program as it advances through Phase 3 clinical trials. In addition, his extensive clinical research background will serve us well as we drive forward other programs in our pipeline,” said Rachel King, Chief Executive Officer.

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COLUMBIA, Md. (February 24, 2021)—TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced today the appointment of Jack Miner as the chief investment officer. He begins his tenure with TEDCO on March 1, 2021.

“Jack brings many years of venture capital and leadership experience to fill this critical role at TEDCO,” said Troy LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO’s CEO and executive director. “Leveraging his extensive knowledge of the entrepreneurial and venture capital community, we’re looking forward to the impact he will make in fostering TEDCO’s mission to better serve our entrepreneurs.”

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Congratulations to the BHI Board-members who made the list.

• Pete Briskman – Executive Managing Director Maryland , JLL
• Ron Daniels – President, Johns Hopkins University
• Dr. Jay Perman – Chancellor of the University System of Maryland

Biographer Robert Caro, in discussing his craft, wrote that “power reveals.” It reveals the true character of people, the nature of their endeavors, their goals and ambitions.

Welcome to The Daily Record’s inaugural Power 100 List.

We are recognizing the men and women across Maryland who are shaping our businesses, governments, nonprofits, law firms and other critical institutions. In essence, they are playing an outsize role in the culture, lifestyle, civic conversation and economic fortunes of Maryland.

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The LaunchPort™ announced today that Novel Microdevices (http://www.noveldx.com) has moved to their Medtech venture center in Port Covington, Baltimore, and has established The LaunchPort™ as its primary location for their GMP development efforts.

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Georgetown University ranks second among the nation’s colleges and universities in graduating women who go on to lead venture capital firms, according to a report published by the investment company Different Funds.

Image: https://thehoya.com

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Are you a BioHealth entrepreneur working with an academic institution on your oncology R&D?  The NCI SBIR Development Center has announced a new funding opportunity to support academic post-doc transitions to industry. This new and unique Fast-Track only award structure comprises a Phase I STTR that transitions to a Phase II SBIR. An STTR award is a collaborative award made to small businesses working closely with a university deadline to apply by 3/25.  For more information, check online:  Small Business Transition Grant | NCI: SBIR & STTR (cancer.gov)

Image: https://sbir.cancer.gov/funding/sbtg From Video

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George Mason University President Gregory Washington on Monday announced he has formed an advisory roundtable of nearly 30 regional business executives and community leaders to focus on the university’s innovation initiative.

The President’s Innovation Advisory Council will focus on issues such as GMU’s efforts to increase the pipeline of tech workers. George Mason’s innovation initiative includes $235 million in General Assembly funding to produce approximately 30% of the 25,000 undergraduate and graduate majors as part of the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program.

Image: Concept rendering of George Mason University’s Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) in Arlington

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SoPE + GW Startup Pitch Application Apply now to pitch at our March 24th Event: Pitch Perfect II: In Action!

Application is limited to SoPE members or those affiliated with George Washington University (students, staff, licensees, etc). Limited spots available. Submission does not guarantee acceptance.

Submission deadline: March 5th, 2021.

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Many policy decisions on the pandemic — in Washington and locally — are driven by an online data tool developed at Johns Hopkins University. Correspondent David Begnaud spoke to one of the people behind the site.

Image: https://www.kctv5.com – From Video

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Richmond-based pharmaceutical development company Phlow Corp. has formed a partnership with a nonprofit organization that will involve opening new laboratory operations in downtown Richmond.

Phlow, which is working to build the supply of medicines that face shortages in the U.S. market, said Monday that it has formed a strategic alliance with United States Pharmacopeia to develop a new laboratory operation in the Virginia Bio+Tech Research Park.

Image: Daniel Sangjib Min – Times-Dispatch

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will now allow small businesses that are majority owned by private equity firms to bid on both Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer opportunities.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) small business programs, which include the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, are the largest source of early stage capital for life sciences startups in the United States. The grant money helps startups accelerate their discoveries and put their discoveries into clinical trials. The grants awarded are just that, a grant and not a loan; there is no requirement to pay back the money. The NIH grants $1.2 billion dollars every year in the combined SBIR and STTR programs.

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