33rd Edition – February 26, 2013

Finding subjects for clinical trials can pose challenges for drug makers – Gazette.Net

Psyadon Pharmaceuticals has spent nine months working to enroll the 18 patients it needs for its phase 3 clinical trial involving its treatment for Tourette syndrome.

The Germantown company’s candidate, ecopipam, also targets Lesch-Nyhan disease, a genetic disorder that affects as many as 1,000 Americans, disrupting their ability to walk and causing self-mutilation.

Although Psyadon usually is not directly involved in its clinical trials — it usually uses companies called contract research organizations, which conduct trials for drug makers — it often tracks disease-related patient advocacy groups and sometimes uses this information to raise awareness of the trial, said CEO Richard Chipkin.

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UMD Program Awards $4.7 Million to Maryland University Researchers to Help 16 Local Companies Develop Technology Products – MarketWatch

The University of Maryland’s Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program today announces it is awarding $4.7 million to Maryland university researchers to help 16 local companies develop technology products.

The projects, which team companies with universities across the state, include gene-silencing for cancer treatment, a new cardiovascular diagnostic device, advanced chemical detection, distributed heating and cooling, fertilizers and soil amendments made from both fish waste and other mixtures, agricultural stormwater treatment, an heirloom tomato juice production system, temperature-detecting gel, a drug to treat lung fibrosis, advanced oyster seeding system, electronic baseball home plate, mobile solar milk chiller, and both a vehicle and sensor technology for inspecting bridges.

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Paul Vulto interviewed by Dutch Financial Times – Dutch press on BHI and Mimetas partnership

The young Leiden-based biotech company Mimetas has closed an agreement with a regional development company from the state of Maryland, USA. Biohealth Innovation Inc., in which regional governments, universities and companies collaborate, will assist in setting up a US branch to find customers and business partners for Mimetas in the USA.

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Richard Bendis to discuss BHI EIR program in Austin, Tx. at SXSW on March 9th, 2013

Richard Bendis will be a speaker at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference which takes place from March 8-17 in Austin, Texas. SXSW is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals which occur every year in March. Mr. Bendis will be speaking on March 9th at a session titled “Entrepreneurs in Residence: Not Just for VCs.” In his presentation, Richard will introduce the BioHealth Innovation, Inc. EIR program and speak about some of the commercialization challenges being addressed creatively by the biohealth community in Maryland.

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How To Win SBIR Awards Seminar

In partnership with BHI, the SBIR Resource Center(R) is offering a daylong seminar on How To Win SBIR Awards(SM) – at all federal agencies – with a primary emphasis on the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This event incorporates ALL of the necessary strategic planning, persuasive proposal writing, project planning/management and Federal project cost-accounting strategies to make your application successful. Walk away with a deep understanding of what it takes to win and an ability to customize SBIR/STTR win strategies for specific projects. Get equipped to evoke positive responses in SBIR/STTR proposal evaluators (very different from all other programs).

WHEN: Tuesday, 5 March 2013, 8:30am – 6:00pm (45 min. lunch break)

WHERE: Rockville Economic Development, Inc.95 Monroe Street – Rockville, MD 20850
(short walk from Rockville Metro Sta.)
301-315-8096 (location phone)

REGISTRATION: or call 410-315-8101 OR email the SBIR Center; Class limited to 18-20 participants

TUITION: $325 ($375 after February 25) — satisfaction assured or tuition is returned

DISCOUNT: BioHealth Innovation may underwrite $175 of the tuition for select biohealth companies through its Commercial Relevance Program.
To inquire about the discount, Contact Ethan Byler

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Don’t worry about Baltimore’s patent drought – baltimoresun.com

Life sciences research is a strong economic driver, even if it leads to few patents

As the economy continues to flounder, many cities are looking for ways to replicate Silicon Valley’s financial success. When seeking to catch the magic of those biggest successes — Apple, Google and Facebook — the word “innovation” gets thrown around frequently. And as intellectual property is taking on a larger and larger role in how companies do business in the Bay Area, many have equated innovation with patents.

A recent Sun article about innovation in Baltimore and Maryland focused on just that. It lamented that the Baltimore metro area came in 116th out of 360 metro areas for the number of patent applications per capita, and that the number of patents granted to Baltimoreans remained flat over the past decade. The article seemed to suggest that this lack of intellectual property growth was at least partially responsible for Baltimore’s lack of job growth.

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BHI Health Information Technology Entrepreneur-in-Residence Job Opportunity

POSITION DESCRIPTION – Entrepreneur-in-Residence

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) will lead in the evaluation of early-stage technologies, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise BHI on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR influences the BHI organization by strategically managing and providing information, intelligence and insights that drive critical business decisions. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets.

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University of Maryland seeks to create innovation hub – Baltimore Business Journal

University of Maryland, College Park and two other East Coast schools will share $3.75 million from the National Science Foundation to develop a regional hub for turning university research into marketable products and services.

University of Maryland will be working with George Washington University and Virginia Tech to create an Innovation Corps for the mid-Atlantic region. The initiative will aim to draw out the best research ideas from students and faculty members and bring them to the commercial market.

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NIH rare disease event to raise awareness, encourage research collaborations, February 25, 2013 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Rare Disease Day, held each year on February 28, was established to raise awareness about the estimated 7,000 rare diseases that affect about 25 million Americans. To mark the occasion in 2013, the NIH will host a free, two-day public event beginning on this day to focus on rare diseases research and advocacy activities supported by several government agencies.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR) and the NIH Clinical Center are organizing and hosting the event. Others involved include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, and patient organizations, such as the Genetic Alliance and National Organization for Rare Disorders. Register and learn more at https://events-support.com/events/Rare_Disease_Day .

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Johns Hopkins APL Wins Potential $5B R&D IDIQ

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has won a potential 10-year, $4,904,853,263 U.S. Navy for research, development and engineering work throughout the Defense Department.

The contract includes a five-year option for review and approval by the assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition and the assistant defense secretary for research and evaluation, the Defense Department said Feb. 15.

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SAIC picks name for spinoff company: Leidos – Washington Business Journal

McLean-based Science Applications International Corp., which announced plans in August to split off part of its operations into a separate publicly traded company, has decided on a name for the new business.

The spinoff, which will focus on national security, health and engineering, will be called Leidos.

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Biotech CEOs: Personalized medicine has lots of promise but not enough funding – MedCity News

Leaders of several Richmond-area biotechnology-related companies said Thursday that they foresee personalized medicine as a major force driving the industry’s growth, but access to capital for small firms with good ideas remains a challenge.

“Life sciences is really the big, huge growth industry,” said Mike Grisham, the chief executive officer of GPB Scientific, a Richmond-based company focused on using microchip technology in health and life-science research.

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The Breakthrough Prize In Life Sciences – Business Insider

Some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent billionaires are making a big push to guide the tech world’s entrepreneurs into biotech.

Backing the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences are Yuri Milner; Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki; and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

Fittingly, they’re making the announcement at the University of California at San Francisco’s Genentech Hall, a building named after one of the Bay Area’s biotech standouts.

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National Science Foundation Scales Up Entrepreneurship Program – Xconomy

The National Science Foundation said today that it will fund a major expansion of its Innovation Corps program, an effort to teach NSF-funded university researchers how to build profitable startups around their technologies.

In its initial stages, the two-year-old “I-Corps” program has been flying researchers to Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and Georgia Tech for prototype versions of the “Lean Launchpad” course originally developed at Stanford by serial entrepreneur and startup guru Steve Blank. Now the program is spreading to nine more universities, which have been singled out for three-year grants totaling $11.2 million.

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Which Drugs Have the Most Patents? – BiotechBlog

This chart shows the pharmaceutical drugs with the most patents still in force.

The drugs with the most active patents are COMBIVENT RESPIMAT, KALETRA, ADVAIR HFA,FLOVENT HFA, VIVITROL, THALOMID, VYVANSE, REVLIMID, VENTOLIN HFA, andCHILDREN’S ALLEGRA ALLERGY.

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Startup Professionals Musings: 10 Ways for Startups to Survive the Valley of Death

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. I often get asked about the real alternatives to bridge this valley, and there are some good ones I will outline here.

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with 90% of new ventures that don’t attract investors failing within the first three years. The problem is that professional investors (Angels and Venture Capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts.

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Call for Presentations – AURP 2013 International Conference

The Association of University Research Parks (AURP), the world’s leading network of university research, science and technology park professionals, invites you to share your knowledge, expertise and experience by presenting at the 2013 International Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This year’s theme is Inventing the Future.

Proven engines for economic growth and development, university research parks influence their communities in significant ways. AURP’s 2013 annual conference, hosted by The University City Science Center, will feature experts who will examine university research park best practices and the strategies which will develop a knowledge-based economy by increasing ties between university, research parks, government, and industry partners.

Interesting approaches and creative solutions to challenges surrounding this topic are sought for presentations.

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Rock Health startups whipping health care industry into shape – VentureBeat

The health care industry is undergoing major surgery. At the center of these operations is Rock Health, a startup accelerator dedicated to the intersection of healthcare and technology. Today, at a demo event at the University of San Francisco, 14 startups presented their ideas on how to transform and improve healthcare in the U.S..

Dr. Aenor Sawyer, an associate clinical professor at UCSF, said during her opening remarks that these companies are changing “how we take care of patients and how patients take care of themselves.” Whether it is managing secondary care, untangling the confusing labyrinth of insurance, or encouraging healthy lifestyle habits, these startups are holding the scalpels.

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Meet the 14 New Rock Health Startups Innovating in Digital Health – Xconomy

San Francisco’s Rock Health startup accelerator held its fourth semi-annual Demo Day at UCSF’s Genentech Hall Wednesday afternoon. Investors and journalists heard pitches from 14 startups working to introduce new health-related services for consumers and new ways to improve the efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system.

On the consumer side, one intriguing presenter was Beam Technologies, which is building a toothbrush embedded with motion sensors to detect how long a person has been brushing. A Bluetooth radio sends the data to a smartphone app. (Perhaps it should have been called the Bluetoothbrush.)

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Montgomery County looks to get hip – The Washington Post

Montgomery officials are under no illusions about the county’s image among the Washington region’s young: boring.

“We’re a little sleepy,” said County Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda). “We go to bed early.”

For all its prosperity and family-friendly suburban appeal, Montgomery is in the throes of a midlife crisis. That angst has led to a new item at the top of the public policy agenda: a yearning to be hip.

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