After a generation spent shaping the growth and development of biopharma clusters, Alexandria Real Estate Equities executive chairman and founder Joel Marcus recently spoke publicly about what will most likely drive the upcoming generation of hubs for biopharma and other emerging life sciences.
“If we focus for a moment on the next life science frontier, it’s pretty clear that the sheer scale of unmet medical needs for patients suffering from diseases of the brain is quite staggering, the cost to society enormous,” Marcus told analysts on Alexandria’s quarterly conference call July 30, according to a transcript published by Seeking Alpha. He cited the growing cost of treating dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the nation’s opioid epidemic.
AstraZeneca has successfully been striking deals at an industry-leading rate over the past five years, with a concerted surge in both out-licensing and in-licensing work, according to a new report, Pharma Licensing Trends, 2014–18.
Analysts Datamonitor Healthcare put AstraZeneca comfortably ahead of other pharmaceutical firms, recognising the company as the most active dealmaker between 2014 and 2018, during which time it also signed the sector’s largest single deal.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Children’s National Hospital and the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announce the six winners of the $150,000 “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition, each receiving a $25,000 award and the opportunity to participate in NCC-PDI’s recently launched “Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program” led by MedTech Innovator. The six winners, who presented medical devices designed to improve Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care, emerged from a field of 11 finalists. Each participant delivered their five-minute live pitch presentation to a panel of 25 esteemed judges during the 7th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium hosted by Children’s National.
A strong group of entrepreneurs ready and willing to innovate, fund and lead new bioscience companies is essential to the creation and sustainability of top-tier biohealth clusters.
It is often referenced that the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) lacks a deep enough pool of qualified executive talent that is needed to sustain a larger cluster with more early-stage biotech startups. In fact, Ken Mills, CEO of REGENXBIO shared his feelings towards this void in leadership talent in a recent BBJ article, stating, “People who have experienced some success in the industry need to stay here and be the foundation for investing in new opportunities in biotech.”
BALTIMORE, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — KaloCyte, a preclinical-stage healthcare biotechnology company developing a synthetic, bio-inspired red blood cell substitute for use in settings when stored red blood cells are not available, has joined Baltimore’s growing biotech community as a University of Maryland (UM) BioPark affiliate. KaloCyte’s relocation from St. Louis brings it closer to major stakeholders and funders, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Small Business Program and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Army Combat Casualty Care Research Program, as well as the outstanding research and clinical communities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) campuses.
When Doug Ward joined Personal Genome Diagnostics in 2016 as the company’s first CEO, he brought a small team of scientists with global experience from international medical technology companies. But leading teams and transformations at big names like Bayer, General Electric, Roche, and Siemens didn’t just make him a competitive driver with the know-how to scale the business, it made him an executive hyper-focused on building the team and scaling a culture that will take a startup company from the Canton waterfront to global distribution.
Image: Doug Ward is the CEO of Personal Genome Diagnostics. (Courtesy photo)
BALTIMORE, Md. — The Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded nine small and mid-sized Maryland companies with ExportMD grants to help promote their products and services in the global marketplace. The ExportMD grant program helps businesses finance the costs of marketing internationally, including trade show fees and travel expenses. Applications are accepted on a monthly basis and the next application deadline is October 1, 2019. Eligibility requirements can be found on the Commerce website.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LumaCyte, an advanced research and bioanalytics instrumentation company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, announces the third doubling of their manufacturing and laboratory space. This expansion reflects an exponential growth trajectory for the organization. “Customer demand is driving our need for additional space and resources. We are excited by the overwhelming interest in our Laser Force Cytology (LFC) instrument, Radiance®. Biopharma and CDMO organizations are looking to drive innovative analytical solutions into their R&D and biomanufacturing processes and we are honored to be part of this important transformation,” says Dr. Sean J. Hart, LumaCyte’s CEO and CSO. Radiance® offers a unique, label-free approach to single cell analysis giving researchers significant improvements in the quality and speed of their cell-based assays. Two key application spaces driving LumaCyte’s current customer demand are rapid viral infectivity measurements for vaccine R&D and production, and label-free biomarker phenotyping for cell therapy biomanufacturing.
The properties are rented by primarily high quality tenants and the cash flow is well supported by long term, triple net lease contracts.
These public and private research facilities are clustered in areas where medical and technological research spending is most concentrated including the greater Boston area, San Francisco, San Diego, NYC, Seattle and Maryland.
On September 17, the College of Health and Human Services kicked-off “Mason: Health Starts Here,” a first-of-its-kind transdisciplinary student cohort study to understand and improve the health of university students. Research will include a longitudinal study of a broad sample of young adults, specifically first-year Mason students, to capture the diversity of their experiences in college and how they affect their physical and behavioral health.
Alexandria has been at the vanguard of Seattle’s growing commercial life science ecosystem since entering the Seattle market in 1996 and is committed to developing a new, vibrant and connected campus to accelerate the discovery and delivery of novel innovations; create quality construction, life science and technology jobs; provide critical funds to address homelessness initiatives; activate the neighborhood; and help fulfill the company’s mission to advance human health
One of the biggest dangers for trauma patients during the ambulance ride is undiagnosed, internal hemorrhagic bleeding. It’s currently undetectable with methods available on the ambulance ride. You can’t see it … but a robot can.
Dr. Axel Krieger – an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering who specializes in medical robotics and computer vision – says that estimates suggest one-third of trauma fatalities likely would have survived if they had access to hospital-level of care sooner. He aims to help make that level of care standard on the way to the hospital by equipping ambulances with a medical robot enhanced by machine learning.
Another day, another start-up making headlines about its transformational technology that’s set to disrupt a traditional sector, or its scientific breakthrough that will change the treatment standard for a horrible disease. “Sounds great!” you may be thinking. “Where do I invest?” Unfortunately, you can’t.
Let’s face it. Most of us aren’t able to invest in venture capital funds. The realm of private equity that fuels the growth of fledgling companies is reserved for endowments, pension plans, and high-net-worth, accredited investors. Is it possible for ordinary investors to gain exposure to this high-risk, high-reward arena? Yes, but only indirectly.
WASHINGTON, September 16, 2019 – Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been appointed to the FasterCures advisory board, executive director Tanisha Carino announced today.
Gottlieb has a unique vantage point into the biomedical research system, how breakthrough medical technologies are developed, and the promise new therapies can hold to cure disease and save lives, according to Carino.
As a member of the advisory board, Gottlieb will leverage decades of exp
Data hubs set up across the UK from October this year will enable cutting-edge research for health discoveries and aim to give patients across the UK faster access to pioneering treatments.
Pioneering data hubs that enable cutting-edge research for health discoveries and aim to give patients across the UK faster access to pioneering new treatments will be rolled out next month.
Led by Health Data Research UK, these hubs aim to improve the lives of people with debilitating conditions, and will link up different types of health data and make it more easily accessible and user-friendly for research, while maintaining strict controls around data privacy and consent.
Most people consider mosquitoes to be a summertime pest – the unwelcome guest at the backyard barbecue. More concerning are the threats from disease-carrying mosquitoes, those that can potentially result in Dengue, West Nile, Yellow fever and Zika. And now media are reporting alarming cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in the United States that have already killed at least three people and infected others.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The UK government said today that it has formed a strategic partnership with four pharmaceutical firms and a charity to provide £200 million ($247 million) to support sequencing the genomes of hundreds of thousands of participants in the UK Biobank.
The project aims to improve health through genetic research and to advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, and chronic kidney disease.
Burtonsville, MD – September 19, 2019 – Facility Logix, a life sciences consulting firm providing best-in-class customized facility solutions and novel approaches to facility design, real estate construction and project management to the biotech industry, celebrates 15 years of success and continued growth, capped off with the recent grand opening of the new 75,000-square-foot Discovery and Innovation Building in Jacksonville, Florida for a major academic medical center.
