BHI Weekly News Archives

This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by BioHealth Innovation, Virginia Bio, Children’s National Health System, Johns Hopkins University, JPMorgan, Maryland Department of Commerce, George Mason University, University System of Maryland, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and AstraZeneca.

The BioHealth Capital Region—Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC—sets the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

For more information about our speakers and event schedule, please visit www.biohealthcapital.com/forum-2020

#BHCRForum20

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Researchers from AstraZeneca, the University of Oxford, and its spinout company Vaccitech today published preliminary Phase I/II data showing their closely-watched COVID-19 vaccine candidate AZD1222 (formerly ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) to have an acceptable safety profile, and favorable immunogenicity against the virus.

“A single dose elicited both humoral and cellular responses against SARS-CoV-2, with a booster immunization augmenting neutralizing antibody titres. The preliminary results of this first-in-human clinical trial supported clinical development progression into ongoing phase 2 and 3 trials,” the researchers concluded in Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: a preliminary report of a phase 1/2, single-blind, randomised controlled trial, published today in The Lancet.

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NEW YORK – Liquid biopsy firm Creatv MicroTech is developing a diagnostic platform that measures the amount and size of specific circulating stromal cells called cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) to identify traces of cancer in a patient’s bloodstream.

The Potomac, Maryland-based company initially plans to commercialize the method, called LifeTracDx, to predict immunotherapy response in stage II to III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cancer patients.

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Montgomery College announces several pop-up, remote classes which could be valuable for you and your teams: :

• Sustaining Resilience MGT632 (crn#16869), August 5, 2020,
• Leading Through Change, MGT633 (crn#16870), August 14, 2020
• Strengthening Effective Communication, MGT634 (crn#16871), August 19, 2020

All three classes are structured remote from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and cost only $129.

Course descriptions may be found on the Summer 2020 Popup Classes Flyer (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader.-Link opens in new window.) .

Registration information may be found at WDCE Registration Options.

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Drugmakers around the world are scrambling to develop a COVID-19 shot, and Emergent BioSolutions has already signed on to help produce doses for some major players. Now, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biopharma has scored a contract update to deploy future vaccine doses for a wholly different kind of health crisis.

Image: Emergent launched a phase 3 trial on NuThrax in March last year; that study is on track to finish by the year’s end. (FiercePharma) – https://www.fiercepharma.com

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Altimmune Inc. is making progress on its Covid-19 vaccine more than four months after jumping into that arena.

The Gaithersburg biopharma said Monday it has emerged from preclinical trials with positive results, positioning the clinical-stage company to start manufacturing the candidate, called AdCovid, in the third quarter of this year and start a phase 1 clinical trial in the fourth quarter.

Image: Dr. Vipin Garg is president and CEO of Altimmune. COURTESY ALTIMMUNE

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Sixteen finalists are announced in the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” special COVID-19 edition competition presented by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Representing innovations in COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices, the finalists will compete in a virtual pitch event held on July 20,2020. Winners will receive grant awards of up to $50,000.

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Facial temperature detection, campus heatmaps: They’re among the tools in a collection of apps created by teams from within the University System of Maryland over the last month to help limit the spread of COVID-19 — and navigate a society that has changed quickly in the pandemic.

In all, six apps were selected as winners of the USM COVID App Challenge, which was issued at the end of May to galvanize the creation of new tools to respond to the pandemic.

Image: AnTech, developed by Andrew Karam of University of Maryland College Park. (Screenshot via YouTube/AnTech)

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Emergent BioSolutions revealed this week plans to expand its viral vector and gene therapy capabilities.

The company announced it will invest $75 million in its Canton, Mass., facility, which is focused on the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) of drug substances for live viral vaccines, including the company’s smallpox vaccine

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Innate Pharma SA (Euronext Paris: IPH – ISIN: FR0010331421; Nasdaq: IPHA) (“Innate” or the “Company”) today announced the appointment of Dr. Joyson Karakunnel as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Pierre Dodion, CMO since 2014, is retiring from this position.

Dr. Karakunnel comes to the Company with deep experience in immuno-oncology, and a proven track record in drug development. As CMO, he will be responsible for advancing Innate’s clinical pipeline and will lead a global team focused on clinical strategy, patient safety, regulatory and medical affairs.

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A lively discussion between our region’s top innovators and connectors to hear about their efforts to help grow the innovation ecosystem and the pipeline of successful startups across the BioHealth Capital Region.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn51Ga8jLrI&feature=youtu.be

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“5 Questions With……” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features Sara Nayeem, M.D., a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

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The search for a cure for Covid-19 is lining the pockets of some landlords.

While the pandemic wreaks financial havoc on hotels and retailers, landlords who cater to biotech and pharmaceutical tenants are seeing increased demand as companies research treatments for the coronavirus, according to the Wall Street Journal. The work of those tenants, too, is more difficult to replicate in a work-from-home setup than the typical office employee.

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The finalists are sourced from nominations and editorial coverage, and selected by the DC Inno team.

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Healthcare stakeholders can no longer lag on digital transformation, and tapping into innovation can sate convenience-hungry consumers and tackle some massive challenges compressing their bottom lines.

Personalization and convenience have become table stakes in nearly every industry, and consumers are extending demands for these digital-powered experiences to healthcare — US consumers have expressed a willingness to jump ship to care services that can provide them with better digital experiences.

Image: Business Insider Intelligence

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The theme of the 25th CBA Annual (Virtual) Conference is “Innovations amid Crisis: A Productive Year of Biopharma Industry”. We will invite biopharmaceutical industry leaders, regulatory and scientific experts from US, China, and Canada to discuss recent research advances on COVID-19, and new trends in biopharma industry. The detailed conference program will be available at www.cba-usa.org shortly.

Time:

Day 1: 8 am – 11 am (EST), August 29th, 2020 (Saturday)

Day 2: 8 am – 11 am (EST), August 30th, 2020 (Sunday)

Registration link: https://bit.ly/2WfpRrR

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As we embark on our third fund at LionBird, we believe that proactively thinking deeply about what will drive the next decade of healthcare will help us both filter through the noise of digital health, and quickly identify the right investment opportunities. We believe that 2020 represents an unprecedented inflection point in digital health (due to both the COVID-19 global pandemic, as well as many other factors) and we aim to define the trends for the coming decade and their implications for our investment strategy.

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NEW YORK — The US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a roughly $5.5 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in fiscal 2021, with budget increases for every institute and center.

The committee recommended a total of $46.96 billion in NIH funding for FY 2021, representing a nearly 13 percent increase over its current $41.68 billion budget. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called for trimming the NIH’s FY 2021 budget to $38.37 billion.

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Scientists have responded to COVID-19 with unprecedented speed. Just months after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, clinical trials are already underway for nearly 200 vaccines and therapies.

But while the pace of COVID-19 innovation may be extraordinary, the research infrastructure allowing this remarkable work is hardly new. In fact, it was cemented into place nearly two generations ago when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.

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The raise is one of the biggest in the Triangle since last year.

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Fourteen businesses in New Jersey’s technology, life sciences, and clean energy sectors received a combined $12.3 million from 50 investments approved through the state’s Angel Investor Tax Credit Program during the first half of 2020, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) announced yesterday. Two of the approved companies benefited from legislation signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last year expanding the program.

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BHI’s own Rich Bendis will Moderate.

Join us for a lively discussion between our region’s top innovators and connectors to hear about their efforts to help grow the innovation ecosystem and the pipeline of successful startups across the BioHealth Capital Region.

On this webinar, you will learn how you can take advantage of the many resources available throughout the region that will help your company go to market AND increase the opportunity to find success in the process.

Fueling an Innovation Ecosystem for Startups to Thrive

Click here for more information and to register.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. government has awarded Novavax Inc $1.6 billion to cover testing and manufacturing of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus in the United States, with the aim of delivering 100 million doses by January.

The award announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the biggest yet from “Operation Warp Speed,” the White House initiative aimed at accelerating access to vaccines and treatments to fight COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

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NEW YORK and GAITHERSBURG, Md. and NEW ORLEANS and LAFAYETTE, La., July 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Mount Sinai Health System, Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE: EBS), and ImmunoTek Bio Centers today announced that they will collaborate to develop, manufacture, and conduct clinical trials to evaluate Emergent’s COVID-19 hyperimmune globulin product, COVID-HIG, including a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) study on health care providers at high risk of COVID-19 infection and other high-risk populations, with $34.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND).

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ROCKVILLE, Md., July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — 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 that it has completed dosing of three patients in Cohort 2 of the Company’s Phase I/II study of RGX-121 for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II) and reported encouraging data under a single-patient investigator-initiated Investigational New Drug (IND) application for RGX-111 for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I) conducted at CHOC Children’s.

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VIENNA, AUSTRIA and GAITHERSBURG, MD, July 8, 2020 APEIRON Biologics AG (“APEIRON”), a private biotechnology company specializing in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel immunotherapies for cancer and respiratory diseases, and MaxCyte, Inc., a global cell-based therapies and life sciences company, today announces the signing of a clinical and commercial licensing agreement.

APEIRON Biologics will obtain non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation® technology and ExPERT™ platform for the advancement of APN401, a siRNA-based cell therapy currently in clinical development for various solid tumors. In return, MaxCyte will receive undisclosed development and approval milestones and sales-based payments in addition to other licensing fees.

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ROCKVILLE, Md., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — ROCKVILLE, Md., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — ExeGi Pharma LLC, a U.S.-based company focused on developing and commercializing products targeting the human microbiome, including live biotherapeutic products (LBPs), announced today the results of a 70-patient clinical trial evaluating a new biologic drug candidate in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The study was conducted in a hospital setting in Rome and published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Medicine. It compared outcomes of patients who received standard drug treatments alone or standard treatments combined with an oral bacteriotherapy.

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PASADENA, Calif., July 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (“Alexandria” or the “Company”) (NYSE: ARE) today announced the pricing of its upsized public offering of 6,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $160.50 per share in connection with the forward sale agreements escribed below. The Company also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 900,000 additional shares. The offering is expected to close on or about July 9, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

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While COVID-19 has thrown the world into an uproar, there’s been a slim silver lining for Maryland. Thanks to a robust group of biohealth and life science organizations, Montgomery County has a unique opportunity to help people nationwide — and worldwide — in the fight against the disease.

As a resident, you may not realize just how much Montgomery County does to help in biohealth across the country.

To start, there is the National Institutes of Health, which hardly needs an introduction, what with its many contributions to medicine throughout the world for more than a century. Just in April, the NIH launched the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines partnership to coordinate — and hopefully accelerate — research on a vaccine.

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GSK and Medicago today announced a collaboration to develop and evaluate a COVID-19 candidate vaccine combining Medicago’s recombinant Coronavirus Virus-Like Particles (CoVLP) with GSK’s pandemic adjuvant system. CoVLPs mimic the structure of the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease, allowing them to be recognised by the immune system. Use of an adjuvant can be of particular importance in a pandemic situation as it may boost the immune response and reduce the amount of antigen required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and therefore contributing to protect more people.

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BALTIMORE, July 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Johns Hopkins University filed suit in federal court Friday in an effort to stop a Trump administration rule change that would severely impact nearly 5,000 international students at the university. The decision to abruptly rescind accommodations for online learning during the COVID pandemic is unlawful and fails to consider the many complexities of meeting our educational mission while also protecting the health of our community.

The suit was filed in the Federal District Court for Washington, D.C., which has significant expertise in handling challenges against unlawful action by the federal government, and it joins other litigation related to the new rule filed by Harvard, MIT and the University of California. Johns Hopkins’ plans for a hybrid, online/in-person model for some of its divisions presents the broadest array of issues for the courts to consider.

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(CNN) – If the year 2020 is good for anything, it’s the lesson that during a crisis, anyone who builds a better mousetrap will find the world beating a path to his door.

A humble team at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland reminded the world of late poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s phrase when they created a real time tracking map of coronavirus cases and deaths.

And the world came to their door. They report that the site, plus downloads of its data, hosts three to five billion interactions daily. By their measurement, interactions include uses of the public dashboard and requests from a separate website for the underlying data used by news outlets and others who design their own maps and graphics.

Image: Civil engineering professor Lauren Gardner, of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, is the lead behind the dashboard project.

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Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and several senior House lawmakers recently announced a plan to impose price controls and seize patents on any COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in development. They vowed to strike down any emergency stimulus packages excluding such measures.

Those efforts aren’t just misguided — they pose a threat to the health of Americans. If lawmakers succeed, they would dismantle the innovation ecosystem that has enabled U.S. pharmaceutical firms to move with remarkable speed to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

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Asafe, effective vaccine is the ultimate tool needed to end the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Biomedical researchers are making progress every day towards such a vaccine, whether it’s devising innovative technologies or figuring out ways to speed human testing. In fact, just this week, NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) established a new clinical trials network that will enroll tens of thousands of volunteers in large-scale clinical trials testing a variety of investigational COVID-19 vaccines.

Image: DR. FRANCIS COLLINS Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – https://www.govexec.com

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Hopkins has the highest percentage of international students of any Maryland college.

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Providence Ventures was founded in 2014 and manages $300 million of venture capital in two funds.

The company is affiliated with Providence, a 51-hospital health system that has more than 800 clinics in five states. The fund makes direct investments in healthcare companies with the goal of improving outcomes and convenience while lowering costs.

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WASHINGTON, June 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Ten finalists have been named in the prestigious annual “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition presented by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Representing innovations in cardiovascular, orthopaedic and spine, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) medical devices, finalists were selected from a field of 30 semi-finalists who competed in March 2020.  The ten innovators now have access to a new pediatric accelerator program and will compete for FDA-funded grants of up to $50,000 each in the final virtual pitch event on Oct. 7 as part of the 8th Annual Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation, co-located with the MedTech Conference, powered by AdvaMed.

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Gentian Diagnostics AS is pleased to announce that the Research Council of Norway (Norges Forskningsråd) has awarded Gentian up to NOK 8.0 million of funding to support the development of a high-throughput COVID-19 antibody test. Gentian has in cooperation with Professor Ørjan Olsvik and Dr. Vegard Skogen at the University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway performed explorative test work that supports an idea of developing a COVID-19 antibody test based on Gentian’s proprietary technology. The assay, if successfully developed, will be designed for use on clinical analysers already available in major laboratories around the world.

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Inner Harbor-based biotech company PathSensors will be acquired by global security screening and threat detection company Smiths Detection, the companies announced this week.

With the deal, PathSensors will become part of a London-based company with 2,200 employees and a U.S. headquarters in Edgewood.

Image: PathSensors is headquartered at Columbus Center. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Smash the Iron Cage, used under Creative Commons license)

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced a five-year manufacturing services agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, for large-scale drug substance manufacturing for Johnson & Johnson’s investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, recombinant based on the AdVac® technology. Emergent will provide contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to produce drug substance at large scale over five years, valued at approximately $480 million for the first two years.

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BHI’s own Rich Bendis will Moderate.

Join us for a lively discussion between our region’s top innovators and connectors to hear about their efforts to help grow the innovation ecosystem and the pipeline of successful startups across the BioHealth Capital Region.

On this webinar, you will learn how you can take advantage of the many resources available throughout the region that will help your company go to market AND increase the opportunity to find success in the process.

Fueling an Innovation Ecosystem for Startups to Thrive

Click here for more information and to register.

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In a recent conversation someone shared the quote “You can’t throw a stone in the BioHealth Capital Region and not hit somebody who worked at MedImmune”. This statement emphasizes how important the company was in seeding the growth of the biotech industry in Maryland. Founded by Wayne T. Hockmeyer in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, Inc., MedImmune became one of the cornerstone Biotech companies in what eventually was named the BioHealth Capital Region.

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With its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful cycling through clinical trials, shot maker Novavax is working to flesh out its executive team to help lead the company to the commercial stage. But you can’t get regulatory approval without a sturdy manufacturing operation—and now Novavax has hired an exec to get that operation in order.

Novavax tapped Ben Machielse as its executive vice president of chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) as the vaccine maker works to take its COVID-19 and four-strain flu hopefuls across the finish line, the company said Monday.

Image: Novavax’s newest manufacturing head will join newly hired Chief Medical Officer Filip Dubovsky. (Novavax)

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VENLO, The Netherlands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) announced that its shareholders today approved all agenda items at the Company’s Annual General Meeting related to the proposed voluntary public takeover offer for the acquisition of all ordinary shares in QIAGEN by Quebec B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) for EUR 39 per share in cash (the “Offer”).

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BALTIMORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Protaryx™ Medical, a company committed to reimagining access to the left atrium for transcatheter cardiac procedures, today announced that it has raised $8.3 million in funding to develop the company’s first-in-class device for precision transseptal access to the left atrium during structural heart and catheter ablation procedures. The company’s funding includes non-dilutive grants and a seed round totaling $3.2 million and the recently closed $5.1M Series A financing led by Ajax Health, with participation from University of Maryland (UM) Ventures, a returning investor.

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ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc., (“ITI”), a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the study of nucleic acid immunotherapy platforms and Ichor Medical Systems (“Ichor”), a privately held biotech company based in San Diego, CA, announced today that the companies have entered into a license agreement to support the development of ITI’s investigational plasmid DNA vaccine therapy, ITI-1001.

ITI will leverage Ichor’s TriGrid® Electroporation technology to increase cellular uptake of ITI-1001 when administered to patients with newly diagnosed Glioblastoma, or GBM. DNA vaccines delivered by conventional injection have experienced challenges to delivery efficiency, resulting in suboptimal immune responses in clinical trials. Ichor’s TriGrid technology utilizes the application of electrical fields in a target tissue to increase intracellular nucleic acid uptake in the local area, resulting in enhanced gene expression.

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RADNOR, Pa., June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR), a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the life sciences, advanced technologies and applied materials industries, today announced the expansion of the company’s Bridgewater, N.J. (USA) innovation center. Located close to biotech companies, the site now has nearly double the laboratory and support space.

Bioprocessing efficiency that doesn’t compromise quality continues to be a top priority for the biopharma industry. At the same time, it’s critical to meet increasingly stringent global regulatory standards.

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PASADENA, Calif. and DURHAM, N.C., June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced the winner of its inaugural $100,000 AgTech Innovation Prize that called on innovators with demonstrated novel approaches to agriculture-, food- and nutrition-related challenges, which are key to advancing human health. The prize was awarded to TerMir Inc., a North Carolina–based agtech company pioneering an innovative and environmentally safe treatment for citrus greening disease—one of the most devastating citrus diseases in the world. Citrus greening disease has resulted in a drop in citrus production and harvesting while driving up costs and job losses. In response to this presently incurable agricultural, environmental and economic challenge, TerMir has developed a cutting-edge and effective solution for breaking the greening cycle with the potential to eradicate the disease.

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Olathe-based Innara Health is setting its sights on international expansion, and its acceptance into a national accelerator program could help that goal come to fruition.

Image: Innara Health’s NTrainer System helps infants born prematurely transition to oral feeding. INNARA HEALTH

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Across Maryland and the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR), state-level support for veteran-owned and operated life science businesses is strong.

This is evidenced by the rich and diverse tapestry of veteran led life science organizations in the region that spans a number of disciplines, including genomics, regenerative medicine, lab equipment and support, testing and biorisk management services.

Here are BHCR veteran-owned life science companies to keep an eye on as we move deeper into 2020.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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At BioBuzz, we’ve been chronicling the BioHealth Capital Region’s contributions to the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve covered BHCR companies developing vaccine candidates and creating diagnostic and serological COVID-19; we’ve also written about companies across the region that have delivered essential materials for the fight against COVID-19 and pivoted their business models to help the region navigate this public health crises.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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September 12, 2020

Special Guests Including:

Dr. Michele McMurry-Hearth

President and CEO,

Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)

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The latest issue of The Life Sciences Report features an interview with Matthew J. Meyer, the firm’s chief client corporate development officer, who has broad management experience in the life sciences sector; a piece authored by Paul Grand and Kathryn Zavala of MedTech Innovator outlining 10 reasons why health care start-ups fail; an interview with Ryan Phelan, co-founder and executive director of Revive & Restore, a 501(c)(3) foundation using 21st century biotechnology to address urgent conservation challenges; and an article by Paul P. Campbell of W. L. Gore & Associates on life sciences innovation culture and deconstruction. In addition, the publication includes articles covering life sciences venture financings in which firm clients participated during 2019, the FDA’s recent issuance of a MAPP on the conversion of ANDA approval to tentative approval, and a sampling of COVID-19-related client activity in which the firm has been involved, as well as a summary of other select recent life sciences client highlights.

Image: https://www.jdsupra.com

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Paul Rothman, MD, CEO of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the medical faculty at Johns Hopkins University, discussed the health system’s COVID-19 data platform and the potential for artificial intelligence to make a difference in how health systems approach treatment in the future in an interview with The Media Line.

Since the pandemic began, Johns Hopkins has gathered COVID-19 data and reported it on a public dashboard for cases and deaths in the U.S. and across the world. Dr. Rothman said the health system is using artificial intelligence and machine learning in its platform and aims to collaborate with others to incorporate data in the future.

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Families often turn to dietary supplements inspired by nature with ingredients such as Elderberry, Vitamin C, and Zinc with the aim to help safely support their immune systems. A heightened awareness for the need to support your immune system throughout the year has resulted in an increased demand for products with immune-supporting and wholesome ingredients.*

To that end, we’re launching the Next in Naturals QuickFire Challenge on Immune-Support, calling on innovators to submit potential solutions inspired by nature that aim to support healthy immune systems in babies, children, or adults.

The innovator(s) with the best idea(s) will receive up to $50,000 in grant funding, one year of residency at an available JLABS, and the opportunity to engage with leadership from Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

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Welcome to GEN’s COVID-19 DRUG & VACCINE CANDIDATE TRACKER website.

Total Drug & Vaccine Candidates: 237 (as of June 8)

The goal of this resource is to provide a comprehensive collection of news, milestones, and updates on drug and vaccine candidates currently being developed for the COVID-19 pandemic.

This resource is based on the reporting of GEN senior news editor Alex Philippidis, who began compiling information on drug and vaccine candidates in the early weeks of the pandemic. The numbers of verified candidates ballooned rapidly from 35 in February 2020, to 60 in March, to 160 in April.

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Across the country today, not just in Boston and San Francisco, in leading and emerging life science clusters, life sciences institutions and innovative companies are working on cell and gene therapies, corona virus vaccines and drugs, and new bioengineering technologies that have the potential to change the way we feed, fuel and heal the world.

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Four more US biotechs filed to go pub lic Fri day as yet more com pa nies clam ber to get through a yawn ing IPO win dow and on to a mar ket that’s sig naled its will ing ness to re ward near ly any new drug mak er.

The new en trants are led by ALX On col o gy and the bi o log i cal an a lyt ics biotech Berke ley Lights, each of whom filed to raise $100 mil lion. The au toim mune com pa ny Pan dion Ther a peu tics al so filed for $75 mil lion, and Kiromic Bio phar ma, a tiny im muno-on col o gy start up based in San An to nio, filed for $25 mil lion.

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The UMB-born startup was co-founded by cardiac surgery chief Dr. James Gammie, who was previously involved with another company that was acquired in 2017 for up to $250 million.

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Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) has closed a five-year agreement with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals for large-scale drug substance manufacturing for J&J’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S.

EBS will provide contract development and manufacturing services over the contract term valued at ~$480M for the first two years. Volume manufacturing will start in 2021 at its Baltimore Bayview facility subsequent to technology transfer.

The company will release updated 2020 guidance when it reports Q2 results.

JNJ is up 2% premarket and EBS up 1%, both on light volume.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced it was awarded $4.7 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research & Development Command (USAMRDC) to fund its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of T-COVID, an investigational intranasal immune modulator for the treatment of outpatients with early COVID-19. The competitive award was granted by USAMRDC in collaboration with the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), a 501(c)(3) biomedical technology consortium working in partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD). The award is expected to provide Altimmune sufficient funding to cover the entire cost of conducting this clinical trial.

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Alex Philippidis joins Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss the BioHealth Capital Region from a National viewpoint, other Hubs, and how the industry has adapted in the age of COVID-19.

Alex specializes in biopharma business news and industry issues for GEN. He joined GEN in 2011 after four years at GenomeWeb, where he covered research institutes and spent three years following biotech economic development as editor of the weekly newsletter BioRegion News. Alex reports a variety of news stories for GEN and Clinical OMICs and compiles the popular A-Lists series.

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Novavax Inc. plans to advance its Covid-19 vaccine candidate with new additions to the company and about $200 million in new funds from selling convertible preferred stock — the latest cash infusion for the Gaithersburg vaccine maker.

The preferred private placement with a Boston-based RA Capital Management investment fund, in a deal that closed June 16, came fewer than two weeks after Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) won a Department of Defense contract worth up to $60 million to help manufacture its coronavirus vaccine candidate. It also builds upon $388 million Novavax landed from the Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations for the same program. And it follows the company’s preparations to sell up to $250 million in common stock, a move that sent its stock soaring toward the end of May.

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BALTIMORE, MD, June 24, 2020 – AsclepiX Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that uses computational biology to identify potent peptide regulators of vascular homeostasis for the treatment of retinal and other important diseases, today announced that it has closed a $35 million Series A financing led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (“PXV Fund”) with participation from the Perceptive Life Sciences Fund, both funds managed by Perceptive Advisors, and existing investors Rapha Capital Management and Barer & Son Capital.

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In response to medical data highlighting the serious impact of COVID-19 on children’s health, Children’s National is partnering with the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) on a special pitch competition focused on COVID-19 related pediatric medical devices. “Make your Medical Device Pitch for Kids! – COVID-19 edition” is seeking devices that support home health monitoring and telehealth and improve sustainability, resiliency, and readiness in diagnosing and treating children during a pandemic.

Image: https://www.todaysmedicaldevelopments.com

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Charlottesville, Va., June 24, 2020 – HemoShear Therapeutics, a clinical stage company developing treatments for rare metabolic disorders, has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to conduct a phase 2 clinical trial of HST5040, an oral small molecule drug for the treatment of patients with methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA). MMA and PA are rare genetic disorders caused by the deficiency of certain enzymes required to metabolize amino acids. The diseases result in the rapid buildup of life-threatening metabolites that can lead to severe organ damage, seizures, developmental deficits, and premature death.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced it was awarded $4.7 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research & Development Command (USAMRDC) to fund its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of T-COVID, an investigational intranasal immune modulator for the treatment of outpatients with early COVID-19. The competitive award was granted by USAMRDC in collaboration with the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), a 501(c)(3) biomedical technology consortium working in partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD). The award is expected to provide Altimmune sufficient funding to cover the entire cost of conducting this clinical trial.

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The World Health Organization said on Friday that AstraZeneca’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine is the world’s leading candidate and reached the final stage in terms of development, Reuters reported.

AstraZeneca, a potential vaccine for coronavirus which is being developed by the researchers at the University of Oxford, has entered in large-scale, mid-stage human trials of the vaccine. This week, AstraZeneca signed its tenth supply-and-manufacturing deal.

Image: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com

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ROCKVILLE, Md. & SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Replicate Bioscience, Inc. (“Replicate”), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company creating novel treatments to prevent drug resistance in cancers, and Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc., (“ITI”), a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the study of nucleic acid immunotherapy platforms, announced today that the companies have entered into a research and licensing option agreement to combine their platform technologies to combat infectious diseases and cancers.

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NEWARK, Del., June 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmacueticals (NIIMBL) announces that they have identified nine projects to allocate approximately $8.9 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) award received in May 2020 towards the support the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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George Petrocheilos and R. Jacob Vogelstein have left Camden Partners to continue to lead the newly independent fund as its managing partners.

Image: George Petrocheilos and R. Jacob Vogelstein are the managing partners of venture investment fund Catalio Capital Management LP. MARK DENNIS

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Johnson & Johnson Innovation is recruiting a Scientific Engagement Lead of Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS. The goal of Johnson & Johnson Innovation is to advance transformative healthcare solutions that improve the lives of people around the world and, in so doing, to deliver value to Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”). JJI accomplishes this by catalyzing new science and technology through collaboration and exchange of ideas. This growing team is looking for a colleague inspired to help build and innovate new ways of fostering a productive life-science ecosystem.

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Scott Plank’s latest investment is in a company that aims to solve logistical challenges within the organ transplant industry.

MediGO offers a hardware and software platform for organ transplantation logistics, designed to make it easier to track donated organs as they are delivered to their recipients.

Image: https://www.bizjournals.com – JONATHAN MUNSHAM

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Dear Innovator,

Happy Pride Month! It’s hard to believe it’s almost July. While we’re facing many challenges here in both Washington, DC and in the U.S., the team and I continued to stay busy while working from home over these past few months.

I wanted to take some time to update you on JLABS @ Washington, DC and our activity. Recently I visited the site and was encouraged to see the progress. The construction team has been hard at work even during these tough times and I am very thankful for those working on the front lines, to include our construction workers, during COVID.

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A drug company trying to save infants’ lives, a university center protecting hospitals from hackers, a tech company building extreme drones: three groups in the region are getting a cash boost from a fund that spurs innovation in Virginia.

Of the 26 tech companies and four universities receiving grants this year from the Center for Innovative Technology’s Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund, three are from this region: ReAlta Life Sciences, Old Dominion University and Sentinel Robotic Solutions.

Image: https://www.pilotonline.com

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It’s not an understatement to say that the entire nation’s hopes are focused on what’s happening in a Maryland laboratory – step one in manufacturing a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Sean Kirk, executive vice president of Emergent BioSolutions, explained to correspondent Martha Teichner how a bioreactor is used to create the ingredients needed in the development and testing of a vaccine for clinical trials already underway in Australia. “This is where it begins, to produce the hundreds of millions of doses,” he said.

Image: https://www.cbsnews.com

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It has been a tumultuous 2020 for venture capital and mergers and acquisitions due to the market uncertainty sparked by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Companies seeking acquisitions and venture capital firms alike continue to find their footing, as do the life science companies progressing toward important milestones during a global public health crisis.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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Cell and gene therapy has evolved into one of the biopharma industry’s hottest markets, with a major splash of investment and a run of approvals anticipated in the coming years. To meet what’s likely to be massive demand for manufacturing capacity, industry experts are calling for “forward-looking” investments—but as one pointed out, those checks aren’t easy to write.

Image: As many as 10 to 20 new cell and gene therapies could be approved each year through 2025. (Gilead)

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Ben Machielse as Executive Vice President, CMC, with responsibility for overseeing Novavax’ manufacturing, process technology, quality and regulatory functions. The Company also announced several leadership promotions:

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Our newest Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS location, JLABS @ Washington, DC, continues to move closer to opening later this year. We recently caught up with Sally Allain, Regional Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC to get the latest updates on construction, how the team has adjusted in response to COVID measures, and what we can expect for the remainder of 2020.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today launched Project Patient Voice, an initiative of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE). Through a new website, Project Patient Voice creates a consistent source of publicly available information describing patient-reported symptoms from cancer trials for marketed treatments. While this patient-reported data has historically been analyzed by the FDA during the drug approval process, it is rarely included in product labeling and, therefore, is largely inaccessible to the public.

Image: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/astrazeneca_today-the-fdas-oncology-center-of-excellence-activity-6681307663625728000-S01t/

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In 2012, there were fewer than 1,400 maternal-fetal medicine specialists in the United States, and 98% resided inmetropolitan areas.

This left pregnant patients in rural areas without the ability to access care, especially if travel was not an option.

Today, telehealth can be used to fill that gap – but providers still may face challenges in ensuring patients get the services they need.

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Southeast Life Sciences, the organization behind 400 presentations, 790 funding transactions, and $5.2B in investments from 500 distinct investors is going virtual for a special edition of PitchRounds.

SE PitchRounds is Southeast Life Sciences presentation program. This special PitchRounds event is intended for companies in the southeast United States that are working on products, services, etc. that are addressing a need related to Covid-19. If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact Jason Rupp at jrupp@southeastlifesciences.org

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LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MedTech Innovator, the premier nonprofit accelerator in the medical technology industry, today announced the 50 companies selected to participate in the organization’s flagship four-month Showcase and Accelerator program, featuring the industry’s most transformative device, diagnostic, and digital health technologies from around the globe. These up and coming startups will receive unparalleled visibility and access to leading manufacturers, providers, investors, and other industry stakeholders. As part of its Accelerator program, MedTech Innovator will award up to $500,000 in cash and in-kind prizes during its final competition at The MedTech Conference, powered by AdvaMed.

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miRecule CEO Anthony D. Saleh, Ph.D. guests on BioTalk to discuss his company, his many roles in startup companies, and being an Entrepreneur in Residence with BHI

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With the LSN Digital RESI Conference approaching quickly, Event Gold Sponsor, BioHealth Innovation (BHI), is stepping up to help lead five panels with some heavy hitters from the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) on June 8-10, 2020.

Great Investment Opportunities in the BioHealth Capital Region

While we adjust to a COVID-19 world, there continue to be great investment opportunities in the BioHealth Capital Region. Join BHCR CEOs as they make short introductions about themselves and companies. Join CEOs from American Gene Technologies International Inc., miRecule, Adaptive Phage, Healion Bio, KaloCyte, Emocha, Tailored Therapeutics, Inc., DEKA, and Ashvattha Therapeutics, Inc.

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Are you a start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your complimentary virtual feedback session with BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Analysts on one of the following dates: 6/24, 7/22, 8/26. (45 minute blocks of time beginning at 9:00 in the morning. Pre-registration is required; sign up www.tinyurl.com/EIRFeedback. For questions/more information, contact BHI

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Emergent BioSolutions Inc. will help produce COVID-19 vaccines in Baltimore and Rockville under a federal contract.

Gaithersburg-based Emergent said Tuesday it will manufacture vaccines under an existing contract with a division of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, assisting government efforts to fast-track the vaccine. Emergent has long worked with the federal health agency’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

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Novavax Inc. just scored even more support for its coronavirus vaccine program.

The Gaithersburg company said late Thursday it won a Department of Defense contract worth up to $60 million to help manufacture its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, NVX‑CoV2373. The funding, from the Defense Health Program, would back the production of multiple pieces of the vaccine, to be manufactured in the U.S., according to Novavax’s (NASDAQ: NVAX) announcement.

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Charlottesville, Virginia. June 9, 2020. AMPEL BioSolutions announces genomic analysis and findings that could improve treatment of COVID19 patients with approved drugs such as Embrel and Stelara. Published on bioRxiv as a preprint, the study reveals a gene-based test that will be able to determine those patients who may progress to severe illness with increased likelihood of morbidity. In addition, AMPEL’s CovGENE approach identifies FDA-approved drugs that may be appropriately repositioned to interfere with mechanisms that cause lung damage in severe COVID19 patients. The paper describes gene expression measured in three body compartments (lung, airway and blood) and integrates information from the blood and lung for a “whole body” understanding of the effects of SARS-CoV2 virus.

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The drug giant AstraZeneca said Thursday that it has found partners to manufacture and distribute 2 billion doses of the experimental Covid-19 vaccine created by Oxford University, inking a series of deals with non-government organizations and another manufacturer.

Image: RAPHAEL LAFARGUE/ABACA/SIPA USA VIA AP

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AstraZeneca Plc has made a preliminary approach to rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. about a potential merger, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be the biggest health-care deal on record.

The U.K.-based firm informally contacted Gilead last month to gauge its interest in a possible tie-up, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private. AstraZeneca didn’t specify terms for any transaction, they said. While Gilead has discussed the idea with advisers, no decisions have been made on how to proceed and the companies aren’t in formal talks, the people added.

Image: Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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GAITHERSBURG, MD, June 1, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the Company to proceed with a clinical trial of T-COVID, an investigational agent for the treatment of early COVID-19. Patient enrollment in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial is expected to commence in June, with data readout anticipated in Q4 2020.

T-COVID is based on the same replication-deficient adenovirus 5 (RD-Ad5) vector technology behind Altimmune’s intranasal vaccine candidates, which include NasoVAX for influenza, NasoShield for anthrax, and AdCOVID for COVID-19, but it acts through a different mechanism. In preclinical studies sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, intranasal administration of RD-Ad5 vectors modulated the innate immune response to lethal challenge with a respiratory virus in mice and protected them from death. The immunomodulatory effects resulted in significantly decreased cellular inflammation and lower concentrations of IL-6 and other inflammatory cytokines in the lungs of treated animals compared to controls.

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on April 7, 2020. As updates are discovered and advancements are announced regarding the work below, details will be published for accuracy.

As the U.S. continues to find its way through a tough fight against this global pandemic, a number of BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) biotech companies are making significant contributions to stem the COVID-19 pandemic. With people across the U.S. and the world making sacrifices to flatten the curve — along with nurses, doctors and first responders who stand heroically at the front lines — life science companies in our region are doing everything in their power to make COVID-19 vaccine progress with celerity, safety and efficacy top-of-mind.

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May 21 (UPI) — European pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Thursday it has received more than $1 billion from the U.S. government to develop its coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The drugmaker has partnered with the University of Oxford on its “AZD1222” vaccine, one of several candidates worldwide in clinical trials.

The funding came from the the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Image: AstraZeneca plans at least 400 million doses and has lined up manufacturing capacity for one billion doses with first deliveries set for September. File Photo by Drago Prvulovic/EPA

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AstraZeneca (AZN) was ranked the most the most inventive pharmaceutical company for the second year in a row by IDEA Pharma’s Invention and Innovation Index for 2020. Meanwhile, Roche (RHHBY) jumped seven places from its 2019 ranking to capture the top spot in the list of most innovative pharma firms.

IDEA is an international consulting firm that works with pharma companies to position their products in the early phase to maximize market success and consult on innovation. The firm bases its Innovation Index on the answer to the following question: “If two companies had the same molecule, who would be more successful with it?” It also considers their ability to bring products from phases 1 and 2 to market and commercialize them successfully, according to CEO Mike Rea.

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Amid a wrenching series of crises that have riven the nation, particularly over matters of race and law enforcement, corporate leaders throughout Maryland have voiced support for the social justice movement that has become more urgent and grown after the death of George Floyd.

Over the last few days, corporate CEO’s, university leaders and others have acknowledged the pain that Americans of all stripes are experiencing, and have pledged to be part of the solution.

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Financing round led by Novo Ventures and includes new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments and Sanofi Ventures, as well as existing investors 5AM Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Sofinnova Partners and founding investor Epidarex Capital

Proceeds to support advancement of pipeline of small molecule NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors, including continued progression of NT-0167 through clinical development

CAMBRIDGE, UK, BOSTON & SEATTLE – June 3, 2020 – NodThera, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new class of medicines that inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome to treat diseases driven by chronic inflammation, today announced that it has secured $55 million (£44 million) in a Series B financing. NodThera’s lead candidate, NT-0167, is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers.

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Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the establishment of the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative, through which Pfizer will invest up to $500 million in biotechnology companies to help provide funding and access to Pfizer’s scientific expertise to ensure continuity of the biotechnology companies’ most promising clinical development programs.

“There has never been a more important moment to pursue new collaborations in our industry,” said John Young, Pfizer’s Chief Business Officer. “The Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative seeks to do just this by injecting crucial capital into biotechnology companies that share our commitment to delivering transformative therapies for patients.”

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Always good to see a new relational perspective. #perspective #thinking #reflection #designthinking #innovationculture

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COVID-19 is fundamentally changing how we live, how we do business, and how we approach and deliver our healthcare. In the past 14 weeks, there has been unprecedented growth for a segment of companies who were positioned to meet these rapidly sweeping changes to our lives, while so many others have had to close their doors or are fighting to stay in business. COVID-19 has sparked millions of job losses.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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SARS-CoV-2 is known to infect cells of the respiratory tract. A deeper understanding of which cells support the infection, and to what extent, could lead to insights into disease progression and severity. Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine sought to understand which cells in the airway the virus infects, and how it gets into the lungs in the patients who develop pneumonia. To this end, they have characterized some of the ways in which SARS-CoV-2 infects the nasal cavity and infects and replicates progressively less well in cells lower down the respiratory tract—including the lungs.

Image: SARS-CoV-2 (red) infected ciliated cells in the COVID-19 patient’s bronchi. (Takanori Asakura, PhD, UNC School of Medicine)

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced that the company has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for the manufacturing of NVX‑CoV2373, Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate. NVX‑CoV2373 consists of a stable, prefusion protein antigen made using its proprietary nanoparticle technology and includes Novavax’ proprietary Matrix‑M™ adjuvant.

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Fina Biosolutions recently received a $25,000 Montgomery County SBIR/STTR Phase I matching grant to support its NIH SBIR grant focused on “Genetically detoxified tetanus toxin for use in vaccines.” The grant comes from a subprogram of the Montgomery County Economic Development Fund. Andrew Lees, Fina Biosolutions’ Scientific Director said, “we are very grateful for the County’s support for our research. We intend to use the funds to hire a part-time employee who we expect will transition to full-time. We also are appreciative of the assistance we received from BioHealth Innovation in guiding us through the County grant process”. Fina Biosolutions is developing the genetically detoxified tetanus toxin as a carrier protein for peptide and glycan conjugate vaccines. Montgomery County, Maryland is the first county in the U.S. to offer matching grants to NIH SBIR/STTR awardees to further leverage the public and private investment in their R&D and job growth activities.

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Are you a start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your complimentary virtual feedback session with BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Analysts on one of the following dates: 6/24, 7/22, 8/26. (45 minute blocks of time beginning at 9:00 in the morning. Pre-registration is required; sign up www.tinyurl.com/EIRFeedback. For questions/more information, contact BHI

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Viela Bio (Nasdaq:VIE) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved UPLIZNATM (inebilizumab-cdon) for the treatment of adult patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) who are anti-AQP4 antibody positive as a twice-a-year maintenance regimen following initial doses. Approximately 80%1 of all patients with NMOSD test positive for anti-AQP4 antibodies.

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BALTIMORE, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Glyscend Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related metabolic conditions, today announced the closing of a $20.5 million Series A financing round. Healthcare investors Brandon Capital Partners, through its Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), and Santé Ventures led the round of funding, which will be used to support the development of the company’s novel oral polymer therapy for patients with T2D and other metabolic diseases. Breakout Labs (a fund in the Thiel Foundation) provided seed funding in 2019.

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AstraZeneca has inked manufacturing deals globally to meet its target of making 2 billion doses of the vaccine, including with two Bill Gates-backed ventures and a $1.2 billion agreement with the U.S. government.

The company’s vaccine is among the first to move into mid-stage trials and the first indication of its effectiveness would likely be available in June or July. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

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At AURP’s BIO Health Caucus, we explored trends in life science research, opportunity zone funding resources, the marriage of life science and philanthropy in global partnership opportunities. Discover the unique roles that biomedical innovation cluster and research parks play in innovation ecosystems around the globe. Translating discoveries from the lab to the market has never been more important.

Click here to download the PDF

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