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289th Edition – January 30, 2018




BioHealth Innovation


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January 30, 2018



Third Annual Crab Trap Competition

You thought the Shark Tank was tough?

The Third Annual BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap is now accepting applications at bit.do/crabtrap!

Deadline for entries is March 30th – Finalists will be announced on April 9th

Submit your application for a chance to be named the startup company with the most commercial potential at the BioHealth Capital Region Forum.

Five finalists will have the chance to win the grand prize by presenting on April 24th in front of a panel of prominent industry funding expert and executives.

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Paragon Bioservices aims to create 200 jobs with Maryland expansion – Technical.ly Baltimore

Paragon Bioservices has plans to expand to new space over the next two years to help companies develop and manufacture biopharmaceuticals.

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Regenxbio (RGNX) Enters Strategic Partnership with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced an agreement with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FUJIFILM) for the manufacture of REGENXBIO’s lead product candidates, including RGX-314 and RGX-501, which will support late-stage clinical development and early commercialization. This partnership builds on the foundation of REGENXBIO’s internal manufacturing and process development capabilities.

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What’s the reaction to Gov. Larry Hogan’s proposed incentives for Amazon? – The Washington Post

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and Democrats from Montgomery County are rallying around Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s $5 billion incentive package to lure Amazon.com and a 50,000-person headquarters to the Washington suburb, but it remains to be seen whether the rest of the Democratic-majority legislature will support the package.

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University of Maryland Baltimore President Dr. Jay Perman Interviewed on New Episode of BHI Podcast – BioTalk with Rich Bendis

Dr. Jay Perman, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore, joins Rich Bendis for a BioHealth Capital Region conversation. They cover topics from Innovation and Commercialization to Community and Education in the region. Dr. Perman is the sixth President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. His presidency is marked by a commitment to such issues as interprofessional education, community engagement, innovation and commercialization, and economic development.

Listen now on iTunes Google Play , and TuneIn

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Paragon Bioservices Bolsters Leadership Ranks with Executive Appointments, New Vice President Hires

Paragon Bioservices, the leading private equity-backed biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with proven expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines, announces today the promotion of key personnel and the addition of two industry veterans to its leadership team. Specifically, the Company appoints Philip Wills, PhD, as Chief Commercial Officer, John Conner as Chief Manufacturing Officer, and William “Bill” Thomas, Jr., PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer, and hires Randy Henrickson as VP of Manufacturing and Dermot McCaul as VP of Information Technology.

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Steve Case to lead off new Anchor Ventures speaker series – Maryland Daily Record

AOL co-founder Steve Case will be the inaugural speaker for Anchor Ventures’s speaker series. Anchor Ventures is a collaboration between University of Maryland Ventures and Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures.

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Just Released! REDI Annual Report Highlights 2017 Accomplishments

2017 marked continued growth for Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI) and the Maryland Women’s Business Center (MWBC).

We are pleased to highlight our many accomplishments in the 2017 Annual Report, which was released today.

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Could this new incubator nurture the next big thing in life sciences? – Cambridge News

Cambridge’s up and coming life sciences firms will be able to benefit from the expertise of some of the biggest names in the sector at a new bio-incubator and life science accelerator.

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QIAGEN Receives FDA Clearance for JAK2 Diagnostic Test – Technology Networks

QIAGEN announced that it has received clearance for its ipsogen JAK2 RGQ PCR Kit (ipsogen JAK2 assay) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for additional use in the diagnosis of all myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), which are a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature and become healthy blood cells.

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Johns Hopkins U creates new test to screen for 8 cancers – WBFF

Researchers with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine developed a new blood test able to screen for eight types of cancers.

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Startups: One Entrepreneur’s View of Balancing Passion with Practicality | UM Ventures

Richard Hughen’s first entrepreneurial experience was as Managing Director at e-learning startup LearnWare, where he says his “addiction” to startups began in earnest. The former manager at Abbott Diagnostics, Cordis and Johnson & Johnson enjoyed LearnWare for the very reason that entrepreneurs usually get hooked: building something from scratch is exhilarating

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Startup fundraising and exits look bullish for bio and health | TechCrunch

After nearly a year, venture capitalists nabbed their first U.S. acquisition for more than a billion dollars. And it wasn’t a tech startup. Nor was it a company on the list of known unicorns. And it had nothing to do with blockchain.

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ETC’S ACCELERATE BALTIMORE ANNOUNCES APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN FOR THE SEVENTH YEAR OF ITS SEED STAGE ACCELERATOR — Accelerate Baltimore

The ETC (Emerging Technology Centers), Baltimore City’s award-winning technology and innovation centers, announces the Accelerate Baltimore (AB) program will run for its seventh consecutive year and applications are now open. The ETC will select six tech startups for the 13-week program set to begin mid-March. The Abell Foundation has awarded ETC $250,000 in funding for this seed accelerator for the third year in a row. Based on the model of last year’s successful program, each of this year’s AB winners will be awarded $25,000 in seed stage funding, while one company will be awarded an additional $100,000 in follow on funding at the end of the program.

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Apply by Feb 12th for Unique Pediatric Surgical Innovation Fellowship at Children’s National

The Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Fellowship in Pediatric Surgical Innovation is an exciting and dynamic post-graduate research experience focused on biomedical innovation.

We invite individuals from the following groups to apply for this unique opportunity:

  • Surgical, radiological, or anesthesia residents, fellows, junior faculty, and nurses
  • Post-doctoral engineers with a strong background and interest in medical and surgical device development
  • Post-doctoral or doctoral candidates in Health Economics

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American Gene Technologies Announces Progress toward Phase I Clinical Trial of AGT103-T for HIV Functional Cure | American Gene Technologies

American Gene Technologies International Inc. (AGT), a leading gene and cell therapy company, today announced completion of the pilot runs of its HIV Functional Cure automated cell processing protocol. This completes a key milestone of AGT’s planned Phase I clinical trial of AGT103-T, a genetically modified autologous T cell product in development as an HIV functional cure.

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Expanding Partnership between University of Maryland and East China University of Science and Technology | Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research

The new year is off to a great start for the partnership between University of Maryland (UMD) and Shanghai’s East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST). This partnership began five years ago when Prof. Greg Payne, from UMD’s Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) and Fischell Department of Bioengineering, was appointed a Chaired Professor in ECUST. The goal of this partnership has been to integrate UMD’s expertise in biofabrication with ECUST’s translational research in biomedical materials. Prof. Changsheng Liu, ECUST’s Vice President and a member of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences, initiated this collaboration as part of ECUST’s efforts to attract international participation in their research programs. “Our work with Maryland has been one of our most successful examples of international collaboration and has led to numerous technical advances while enhancing our graduate student training,” noted Liu.

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Health Leader Tanisha Carino, Ph.D. Takes Helm as New Executive Director of FasterCures – Milken Institute

Tanisha Carino, Ph.D., the respected senior executive with more than two decades of experience in academia, government, and the private sector, is joining the Milken Institute as executive director of FasterCures, the center devoted to saving lives and improving the medical research system.

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Maryland in Top 10 States that Added Jobs (Virginia and DC in Top 30) – Governing.com

Nearly all states added jobs in 2017, but the latest Labor Department data suggests most states experienced slower growth last year than in 2016.

Still, it proved to be a particularly strong year for a select group of states — 10 of which recorded year-over-year job gains exceeding 2 percent.

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Venture capital vital to future of biotech – Laboratory News

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has released a report suggesting that pharma companies investing in emerging start-ups is now a key source of capital for biotech innovation in the UK.

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What’s next for biotech? – Innovators magazine

Innovators Magazine asked some biotech stakeholders what trends they expect to see in their markets this year.

The opinions were published in our special biotechnology edition, which was distributed to delegates at an industry conference in Glasgow this week.

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Sanofi to Acquire Biogen Spin-Off in $11.6-Billion Deal | BioPharm International

On Jan. 22, 2018, Sanofi announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Bioverativ, the hemophilia and blood disorders-focused spin-off company of Biogen, for $105 per share, or a transaction value of approximately $11.6 billion. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Sanofi and Bioverativ.

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California Life Sciences Association Applauds Confirmation of Alex Azar as HHS Secretary – Business Wire

California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the trade association representing California’s life sciences industry, today commended the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Alex M. Azar, II as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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New York sketches out $500M plan to build a biotech hub – FierceBiotech

New York City is doubling down on its long-discussed, never-realized dream of building a biotech hub to rival South San Francisco and Boston. The latest iteration of the dream comes backed by a $500 million financing package and a goal to quadruple the amount of R&D space in the city.

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Anatomy of two biotech deals worth $20B – MedCity News

Analysts had forecast a blockbuster year for life science mergers and acquisitions as the lower tax rate for repatriated cash kicks-in and Big Pharma continues its hunt for late-stage assets.

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Pursuing breakthroughs in cancer-drug development | McKinsey & Company

The pharmaceutical industry continues to pursue the discovery of medicines for cancer patients with unprecedented rigor. Over the past several years, three major trends have reflected this pursuit. They include the growth of the industry pipeline of cancer-drug candidates, the evolution of the clinical-trial landscape, and the explosion of available clinical and real-world data

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