470th Edition, August 24, 2021

Biohealth and Entrepreneur Experts Joins Robust Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) Team

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, August 23, 2021 – BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) announces the addition of Diane Ignar, Ph.D., and Dr. Loleta Robinson to the expanding Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) team. The Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program at BHI ensures that disruptive technologies receive all the resources required to transform the technology from a discovery into a commercially relevant product and eventually have a measurable impact on human health. The program was created to support scientists, early-stage startups, and licensed technologies to provide them with access to these resources. Diane will work with NIH’s National Institute on Aging, and Loleta will work with their Office of Extramural Research.

 “BHI is pleased to welcome Diane and Loleta to our growing group of EIRs working with the National Institutes of Health,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President, and CEO. “Their backgrounds in healthcare, venture capital, and helping early-stage businesses are key to our mission for the program nationally, and regionally.”

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The exec has been at the helm of the company for 18 years.

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When Joel Marcus, a trained accountant and biotech industry lawyer, started lab real estate giant Alexandria Real Estate Equities in the 1990s, the sure bet many see in biotech wasn’t visible to many. The company’s first leases in San Francisco charged lab tenants just $6 per SF. Now, the REIT’s average tenant pays just shy of $70.

Image: Courtesy of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Alexandria Real Estate Equities Chairman Joel Marcus

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Armed with brilliant ideas, experience and a determination to disrupt, these 50 women are making an impact on society and culture through healthcare, robotics, music, dance, and so much more. It’s the third chapter of our 50 Over 50 project, launched in June and produced in partnership with Mika Brzezinski’s Know Your Value initiative.

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With so many new public biotechnology companies minted in the last 18 months, it has become more difficult to sift out the winners from the losers. During 2020, the biotech industry gave birth to an unprecedented 89 new public companies, and 2021 is on pace to beat this record-setting year. Of all the strong-performing IPOs and biotech companies out there, companies focused on precision medicine, or compounds that directly affect disease-causing genes or proteins, continue to be the subsector getting significant attention, with high valuations being assigned to early- and mid-stage companies.

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BALTIMORE, Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Empower Therapeutics Inc., a Baltimore-based startup, has secured worldwide, exclusive rights to a simple, reliable brainwave biomarker for pain sensitivity. Empower plans to leverage the technology, which is jointly owned by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Birmingham, U.K., to develop a cutting-edge digital therapeutics platform to determine and modify pain sensitivity for chronic pain therapy.

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A key factor in the success of a developing drug or therapy is the success of early clinical trials. A focus on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards for phase 1, first-in-human trials is critical to maximize the chances of success from a project’s start. For cell therapy development, where even small errors can make a big difference, it’s even more important.

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Startups with ties to Johns Hopkins ties have contributed significantly to the highest-ever amounts of capital being raked in across Maryland and beyond. For example, three spinout companies raised mega-deals in fiscal 2021, or venture deals worth $100 million or more.

Image: Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures operates several FastForward startup accelerator programs for student-led ventures and other growing spinout companies. KAITLIN NEWMAN

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I’m pleased to share with you JHTV’s annual report for Fiscal Year 2021. The pandemic made FY21 an unusual one, but the JHTV team made it an extraordinary one, as the report demonstrates. We took full advantage of the momentum that had been building prior to the pandemic and used our digital connectivity to continue bringing the benefits of academic discovery to the world. Among our FY21 achievements:

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BOSTON – July 27, 2021 – Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, announced today that it has agreed to purchase the Shady Grove Bio+Tech Campus in Rockville, Maryland. The property includes seven existing buildings comprising approximately 435,000 square feet across 31 acres in the Shady Grove life sciences cluster, a highly desirable location for leading and emerging companies in the biotechnology sector.

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The MDC Studio is pleased to announce the spin-out of the company, Sonosa Medical, Inc., as an independent entity. Founded in 2019, Sonosa Medical is developing next-generation devices poised to transform the diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The company is led by Dr. Stephen Restaino as Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Wolf as Medical Advisor, and Dr. Gil Blankenship as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Restaino and his team have been developing novel technology for the detection and treatment of OSA using a wearable device. Their work has been funded by a $3.35 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

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Since the precise 3D structure of a protein is essential for its function, misfolding can result in significant downstream consequences. If this misfolding occurs to an enzyme, oftentimes the catalytic reaction can no longer take place, leading to substrate accumulation to toxic levels and subsequent cellular dysfunction.

There are many reasons why enzymes misfold. The most obvious is a genetic mutation in which a change to the amino acid sequence leads to an incorrect folding pattern. However, there are other causes of misfolding that can affect even wildtype enzymes, including states that increase cellular stress such as aging and inflammation.

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The appointments are just the latest in a series of additions the company has made throughout the pandemic.

Image: Stanley Erck is president and CEO of Novavax.

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“This is USG” is a video podcast series launched by the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) in October 2020. The series features Dr. Anne Khademian, USG’s Executive Director, interviewing guests who are closely connected to USG and the greater community. Guests include students; alumni; staff; faculty; members of the USG Board of Advisors; business, community and university leaders; and others.

https://youtu.be/0pe8g47_f-o

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