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A Hunt Valley venture capital firm is the first to receive funds from the state’s new $84 million InvestMaryland program.

Grotech Ventures will receive $12 million to invest in early-stage companies. If the recipients are successful, Grotech will return 100 percent of the principal investment and 80 percent of its profits to the state’s general fund.

This week’s announcement marks the next major step for the program, a key economic development initiative of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) that the General Assembly approved in 2011. The state raised the $84 million this year through an online auction of tax credits to insurance companies that operate in Maryland.

GLAXOSMITHKLINE (GSK) has been ranked top of the Index in 2012 for the third time after scoring high in four categories including general access to medicine management, research and development activity, capability advancement and drug donation and philanthropy.

The Country Manager for Ghana, Manu Otuo, commenting on the development, welcomed the publication of the third Access to Medicine (ATM) Index, which measures the performance of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies on their efforts to improve access to medicine and healthcare in developing countries.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins University are experimenting with a breakthrough surgical procedure that will hopefully help combat Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a report by Johns Hopkins Medicine , doctors implanted one of the devices Thursday. The medical team at Johns Hopkins was the first to perform this surgery in the United States

The procedure involves placing a pacemaker of sorts on the brain. The device works similarly to a pacemaker for the heart but instead it stimulates the brain. The same procedure is used to battle Parkinson’s disease.

Children’s National Medical Center researchers hope the general public’s generosity can fill in the gaps left by dwindling governmental and philanthropic support.

Following a business trend that is exploding in the technology and nonprofit medical community, Children’s Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation launched in late November a “crowdfunding” initiative — the process of raising small amounts from a massive pool of individuals, often nationwide and mostly through online and social media routes.

Date: December 12, 2012 3:30-5:30pm

Presenters: Steven M. Ferguson, CLP, Deputy Director, Licensing and Entrepreneurship, NIH Office of Technology Transfer and Mark Rohrbaugh, J.D., Ph.D., Director NIH Office of Technology Transfer 

Come hear the story behind the NIH Office of Technology Transfer winning the 2012 Deals of Distinction™ Award, one of the most prestigious for technology transfer that was just presented to NIH by the Licensing Executive Society on October 17th  at their Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.   The award was given to NIH along with the University of Illinois at Chicago and Gilead Sciences  for license agreements granted to the Medicines Patent Pool, a newly established initiative of UNITAID, an international organization established to grant licenses for the generic manufacture and purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.  In making the award the Licensing Executives Society cited this model partnership as “an innovative endeavor in facilitating access to HIV treatment in developing countries” and one that “showcases the success of public-private partnerships to improve availability of medicine”.

There are only 7 Days Left to apply for the InvestMaryland Challenge. Application Deadline is December 13. Enter your early-stage business into the Challenge for a chance to win more than $425,000 in prizes and awards. There are three – $100,000 Awards in Life Sciences, IT, and a nation-wide general industry category. Additionally, there are chances to win free incubator space, cash prizes, mentorships, legal and other business services. Enter today at www.InvestMarylandChallenge.org.

The National Business Incubation Association has again awarded the NBIA Soft Landings International Incubator designation to the Emerging Technology Centers of Baltimore. This was ETC’s third renewal of the designation they first received in 2006.

Through its Soft Landings program, NBIA recognizes business incubation programs that are especially capable of helping nondomestic companies enter the incubator’s domestic market. “ETC was selected for the program because of its slate of business services for nondomestic firms and its demonstrated success at helping these firms enter the U.S. market,” said Randy Morris, NBIA director of member services.

Grotech Ventures has been selected as the first private venture capital firm to receive funds to invest through the state’s $84 million InvestMaryland program.

The newly launched program has previously given awards directly to early stage technology companies.

Grotech Ventures, with offices in Hunt Valley and Tysons Corner, Va., received $12 million from InvestMaryland to invest in early-stage companies in Maryland. If the investments are successful, the firm is expected to repay the funds and 80 percent of the profits to the state.

Cerecor Inc today announced that it has signed an option with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for an exclusive license to develop and commercialize small molecule D-Amino Acid Oxidase inhibitors (“DAAO inhibitors”) that were developed at the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute (“BSi”).

DAAO inhibitors inhibit the degradation of D-serine, an amino acid which has a central role in the normal function of the glutamate / NMDA system in the human brain.  Growing evidence suggests that deficits in glutamate transmission are central to the neurobiology of schizophrenia.  D-serine, when administered in multi-gram quantities per day, has been shown in multiple studies to improve cognition (executive function) and reduce positive symptoms in schizophrenics. DAAO inhibition in the brain, as a means of increasing D-serine levels, has been a target for treating schizophrenia by major pharmaceutical companies for many years.