BHI Weekly News Archives

Our mission: improve newborn survival and health in the developing world

We are developing cutting edge healthcare technologies for where they’re gravely needed and will have an incredible impact—vulnerable populations in low-resource countries. Annually, over 46 million newborns in developing countries around the world need interventions for complications that happen at or around birth, 600,000 in Uganda alone. Every Neopenda device has the potential to save the life of a newborn for less than $1, once it is produced at scale.

Join us on March 30th for an evening of networking around innovation and commercialization at the BioBuzz @ Relevant Health. Meet with the organizations fueling commercialization in Maryland – BHI & TEDCO – and mingle with the first cohort of companies in the regions newest BioHealth accelerator – Relevant Health.

The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) was officially designated as the County’s Economic Development Organization by the County Council, marking a big and bold step toward achieving greater economic competitiveness and prosperity in Montgomery County. As the County’s new lead economic development organization, MCEDC is replacing both the County Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Montgomery Business Development Corporation (MBDC) effective July 1, 2016, as the primary point of contact for the local, regional, national and international business community.

Intralytix, Inc., announced today that the company has received a SBIR Phase II grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), to develop a bacteriophage (or phage) cocktail effective against the larval shellfish pathogens Vibrio tubiashii and Vibrio coralliilyticus. This research will be a continuation of collaborative efforts between Intralytix and Dr. Gary Richards, the Lead Scientist at the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratory in Dover, Delaware, where these phages were originally isolated and characterized. A spokesperson for the company noted that, in developing this proposed technology, Intralytix will be working closely with Dr. Chris Langdon at the Hatfield Marine Station, Oregon State University, in Newport, Oregon, and Dr. Claudia Hӓse at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Oregon. In addition, the company will receive continuing research support from Dr. Richards’ group at the ARS USDA.

Roche Holding AG, the world’s largest producer of cancer drugs, is opening the door to more external partnerships as its latest and most promising tumor-fighting treatment heads for approval this year.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced today that 17 companies have received over $1.7 million in funding from the organization’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) and Cyber Security Investment Fund (CIF)in the last six months. The funding will be used to advance the companies’ technology and product commercialization efforts.

DATE: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 (FINAL EVENT) TIME: 3:30-5:00PM

LOCATION: Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20850

We would like to offer one of our best and brightest as our final speaker for the Tech Transfer Speakers Series. Launching one successful company is challenging, but founding six or more is an art. Plan to attend our final program on April 13 with one of our area’s prolific entrepreneurs. Specific points of interest and discussion will include: fundraising, launching the idea, identifying a technology that will sell, working with tech transfer officers to license the technology, and the future of innovation investment in the United States, Asia and Europe. Bring your best questions. This will be an exciting conversation!

For the last several years, Martine Rothblatt has been positioning United Therapeutics to manufacture transplantable human organs. This week, the founder and CEO of the Maryland biotech cornerstone told the state’s tech community to get ready for a new industry to sprout from the idea.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: RNN) announced today that additional data supporting the Company’s novel, investigational anti-cancer therapeutic, Supinoxin™ (RX-5902), for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, were presented at the 14th Annual Targeted Anticancer Therapeutics Congress (TAT 2016), held in Washington, DC March 21- 23, 2016.

SPIRIT OF INNOVATION: “We spend a lot of effort in recruitment to find the right culture fit,” says Gorkem Sevinc, CTO of emocha Mobile Health. What’s more, the solutions developed by Sevinc and his team help patients with medication and care plan adherence, a task that can literally save lives. “This drives our team to go above and beyond,” he says.

Maryland universities have ramped up efforts in recent years to help students and faculty turn their discoveries into growing businesses but lag far behind many colleges around the country in spinning off companies and pulling in millions of dollars in licensing revenue.

A Baltimore health startup is among the new class of companies entering Dreamit’s accelerator program.

Timonium-based Kermit was developed by a team that consulted for hospitals on the purchase of implantable medical devices for knees, hips and other body parts.

An investment firm targeting seed stage investment in health IT and other software startups is raising a $50 million fund, according to a report by Fortune.

Two of the investors behind Refactor Capital’s fund have worked for Google: David Lee, who also co-founded SV Angel and Zal Bilimoria, who has worked for Andreessen Horowitz.

The Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP), within the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation, announces a nationwide search to fill multiple Program Director positions for the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program.

Formal consideration of interested applications will continue until these positions are filled.

Attempting to free people with diabetes from frequent finger-pricks and drug injections, researchers have created an electronic skin patch that senses excess glucose in sweat and automatically administers drugs by heating up microneedles that penetrate the skin.

You thought the Shark Tank was tough… wait until you enter the the first annual Maryland Crab Trap!

Submit your application to our business plan competition for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the Regional Biotech Forum and have the opportunity to win $10,000 and an incubation space! Pitch your idea to industry experts on April 19th and 5 Finalists will have the chance to win the Grand Prize. This competition will be focused on companies in the following sectors: Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Healthcare Services, E-Health, Mobile Health, Electronic Medical Records, Health Informatics, and BioHealth Cyber Security.

Companies will be scored on: Product, Technical Feasibility, Marketing/Strategy, and Leadership team.

Deadline for entries is March 25th – Finalists will be announced by April 4th -Regional Biotech Forum Event: Panel Presentation is on April 18th

Apply here: crabtrap.regionalbiotechforum.com

Medical device company Senseonics Holdings Inc. raised about $45 million last week in the first Greater Washington IPO of the year.

Senseonics (NYSE: SENS) originally planned to raise about $60 million by offering 18.2 million shares at a range of $3.10 to $3.50, but ultimately lowered the proposed deal size for the IPO.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Miltenyi Biotech said they will partner to develop new cell and gene therapies through a collaboration whose value was not disclosed.

The collaboration is designed to combine GSK’s expertise in developing cell- and gene therapy–based treatments with Miltenyi Biotec’s global leadership in cell processing and related technologies in cell therapy, the companies said.

Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore CEO Thomas Sadowski has taken a high-ranking economic development position with the state’s public university system.

Sadowski, who has headed the business advocacy group known as the EAGB since 2008, is becoming the vice chancellor for economic development at the University System of Maryland. He’ll start May 2 at the public education system, which is made up of a dozen institutions with 163,000 students.

Blueprint Medicines is collaborating with Roche on the discovery, development and commercialisation of up to five targeted cancer immunotherapies, in a deal potentially worth more than $1 billion.

Baltimore health IT startup Tissue Analytics has raised $1.9 million in debt to scale up its wound analysis business.

The funding comes from unnamed investors.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 06:00pm – 09:00pm

March is Women’s History Month. To honor this special time, WIB-DC/Baltimore presents an educational event on the topic of financing with biotech entrepreneurs Wendy Perrow, M.B.A. (CEO at Alba Therapeutics) and Audra Stinchcomb, Ph.D. (CSO and Founder of F6 Pharma), who will share their knowledge and experience with funding a biotech enterprise. Entrepreneur Iris Sherman, M.B.A. (President and Cofounder of Kitchology) will serve as moderator for this discussion.

Every year TEDCO makes dozens of investments in the State’s most promising tech startups – this volume of deal flow makes TEDCO the “go to” seed stage funding source for Maryland entrepreneurs.

You may have heard about TEDCO’s TCF (Technology Commercialization Fund) and CIF (Cybersecurity Investment Fund) Programs and found yourself wondering “What are they?”, “What is TEDCO looking for?”, and “How can I maximize my chance of getting funded? – well…now help is on the way!!

Join us for an “entrepreneur only” workshop to learn how you can prepare a powerful application for these two TEDCO flagship funding programs. The first part of the workshop will cover the TCF/CIF process, application requirements and the key points every reviewer is looking for in an application. In the second half, entrepreneurs will have the chance to discuss their specific situations & questions with experienced TEDCO review committee members.

Montgomery County’s Bethesda Hyatt will be the venue for the CONNECTpreneur XVIII Forum on April 28. The event, which will be held 7:00 to 11:00 am, features a “fireside chat” with serial entrepreneur and CEO Mark Walsh.

With more than 250 CXO’s and investors, along with a strong lineup of speakers and presenters, the Big Idea CONNECTpreneur XVIII Forum is shaping up to be a record-setting event.

Virginia Bio, the premier statewide non-profit association representing life science industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia, elected Dr. Reg Seeto, Vice President, Head of Partnering and Strategy at MedImmune, the biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, as a new member of their Board of Directors for a term of three years.

Venture capitalists had a big year in Maryland in 2015.

In the fourth quarter of last year, they invested more than $451 million in 14 different Maryland companies — the largest quarter ever in the state since 2006.

While most agencies try to imitate advances in the private sector, the Department of Health and Human Services instead is emulating the process that fuels many recent innovations: startup accelerators.

The White House on Friday appointed an executive director of its Cancer Moonshot Task Force: Gregory C. Simon, a leukemia survivor with experience in government, nonprofits, and the corporate world.

Entrepreneur Vivek Garipalli has a dim view of the way health insurance companies treat providers and patients. Patients develop trust with doctors and hospitals, and he thought insurers should be the “glue” between them instead of creating friction.

Microscopic robots, powered by bacterial flagellation, are a curious branch of robotics research, potentially leading to devices that can deliver drugs, perform surgical tasks, and help out with diagnostics. While bacteria has been harnessed in the past to power small devices, having those devices actually navigate to a desired target has been a challenge. At Drexel University researchers are now using electric fields to help their bacterial biobots detect obstacles and float around them on their way to the final destination.

Johns Hopkins University graduate programs in nursing, education, medicine, and biomedical engineering remain among the best in the nation, according to the newest U.S. News & World Report rankings of “Best Graduate Schools.”

The list, released on Wednesday, moves the university’s School of Nursing master’s degree program up from a tie for second place last year to the No. 1 spot this year.

The biotech investment climate sank into deep insecurity by the close of 2015, as shown in EP Vantage‘s new “Pharma & Biotech 2015 in Review” report. The flutterings around companies raising capital, via venture capital or IPO, diminished – which invites a retrospective on the investment environment in years past. Perhaps this will help inform how cash-hungry companies will fare this year.

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. I’m not recommending that you saturate your discussions with lingo, but responding with a blank stare once-too-often won’t convince anyone that you can build the next world-changing business or outpace the market.

Looks like ARCH Venture Partners is gearing up for its ninth fund, with aims to raise $400 million, according to a regulatory filing. The Chicago-based early stage venture firm has a deep history in tech and life sciences investments – with some notable recent plays like Illumina offshoot Grail, Harvard 3D printing spinout Voxel 8, and Doug Williams’ brainchild Codiak Biosciences.

You thought the Shark Tank was tough… wait until you enter the the first annual Maryland Crab Trap!

Submit your application to our business plan competition for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the Regional Biotech Forum and have the opportunity to win $10,000 and an incubation space! Pitch your idea to industry experts on April 19th and 5 Finalists will have the chance to win the Grand Prize. This competition will be focused on companies in the following sectors: Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Healthcare Services, E-Health, Mobile Health, Electronic Medical Records, Health Informatics, and BioHealth Cyber Security.

Companies will be scored on: Product, Technical Feasibility, Marketing/Strategy, and Leadership team.

Deadline for entries is March 25th – Finalists will be announced by April 4th -Regional Biotech Forum Event: Panel Presentation is on April 18th

Apply here: crabtrap.regionalbiotechforum.com

The Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking an outstanding individual to serve as Director of the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), Office of Intramural Research, Office of the Director. The OTT provides support to the technology transfer functions of the NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) that manage the patenting and licensing of inventions made by scientists in the NIH intramural research program. The OTT is responsible for negotiating amendments to these licenses and for patent license enforcement activities. OTT also manages the administration of royalties ($138M in FY2014), which are distributed to inventors, ICs where the inventions were made, and to co-inventors under Inter-Institutional Agreements. OTT manages multiple IT systems which track the NIH invention lifecycle including data and documentation workflows. It manages the docketing of all patent correspondence from contract law firms, receiving and processing new invention disclosures, marketing of NIH licensing opportunities, central reporting of NIH-wide technology transfer data, and necessary training in the use of the centralized database. The incumbent has overall responsibility for strategic and tactical operational planning, and financial management for the OTT. The Director of OTT reports to the Deputy Director for Intramural Research, NIH.

Maryland-based biotechnology firm MaxCyte Inc Thursday said it plans to list on London’s AIM market later this month.

The company expects to be admitted to AIM March 29, and plans to raise GBP10 million on admission. It expects to have a GBP30.4 million market capitalisation.

Congratulations to Montgomery County Innovation Network Director John Korpela for receiving a service award from the Maryland Business Incubator Association on March 4 at the Germantown Innovation Center during its annual meeting. The award was presented by MBIA President Robert Snyder and recognizes John for his 12 years of service, leadership, and mentorship.

Inner Harbor is the latest site of a new Baltimore incubator.

With Harbor Launch, the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) has designated areas of office and lab space specifically for biotech and environmental startups at Columbus Center (the big building with the sails on it near Pier Five).

MedImmune has secured orphan drug designation from the the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its MEDI-551 neuromyelitis optica drug.

MEDI-551 is an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody indicated to treat neuromyelitis optica and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Every year in March, Women In Bio celebrates Women’s History Month (WHM) with events highlighting the most pressing issues for women in the biosciences/technology field. This year’s theme is “Expanding the 50-50 Challenge,” and our WIB-DC/Baltimore chapter WHM event will identify opportunities, barriers, and challenges for women who are becoming investors in their own right, as well as challenges for women entrepreneurs to access investment. On a broader note, our panel will discuss how women can identify and tackle with gender disparities in the professional environment through “investing” in their own and their female colleague’s professional goals.

Companies founded on technology licensed from Johns Hopkins University have raised $1 billion since 2010. And 90 percent of those companies are no longer in Maryland.

Christy Wyskiel, who leads Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, the university’s commercialization arm, hopes to reverse that trend with a new partnership with Village Capital and the Abell Foundation.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its BD Totalys MultiProcessor and BD Totalys SlidePrep instruments.

The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is interested in proposals to lease a bio-manufacturing facility configured to produce biologicals under cGMP conditions in compliance with FDA requirements for phase I/II clinical trials. The facility is also equipped to perform process development research, preclinical manufacturing for material necessary for IND-enabling toxicology studies, Point of Concept (POC) studies, and process demonstration in advance of GMP manufacturing. The Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility is located on the University of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus at 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.

When March 30th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Where: Relevant Health 155 Gibbs St. #529 Rockville, MD 20850

Join us for an evening of networking around innovation and commercialization at the BioBuzz @ Relevant Health. Meet with the organizations fueling commercialization in Maryland – BHI & TEDCO – and mingle with the first cohort of companies in the regions newest BioHealth accelerator – Relevant Health.

BHI, who operates the relevant health accelerator, is an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding. This is your chance to get to know some of their TEAM and Entrepreneur’s in Residence to help you bring your product to market.

This event will be TEDCO’s bi-monthly “meet the program managers” event. Take this opportunity mingle with the program managers and learn about how you can navigate through TEDCO’s funding programs. TEDCO is State’s go-to resource for funding start-ups that need guidance as they bring innovative concepts to market.

As venture capitalists focus more on bigger deals, a growing demand is developing for business accelerators and incubators to fund startups, Dreamit Ventures LLC CEO Avi Savar said Saturday at South By Southwest.

Who has the hot hand in venture capital?

To identify today’s top venture investors, CB Insights, a research firm that tracks the venture capital industry, created a data-driven list. The firm based its report on factors like connectedness, since people with access to the best information hear about hot companies first, and exits, meaning the returns generated when a start-up is sold or goes public. For exits, the firm considered the valuation and when the investor first put money into the company.

Health Wildcatters got recognized for the first time in an annual report ranking seed accelerators. It scored a Silver ranking while Healthbox attained a Gold in the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.

Hubert Zajicek is the head of the Dallas-based Wildcatters accelerator, which has been around since 2012. It has 32 portfolio companies and is currently looking for applicants for its Fall class later this year.

South Korean venture capital companies turn their eyes to promising biotech firms overseas, looking for a vehicle to accelerate their investment goals.

KTB Network recently joined hands with three Chinese venture capital companies to invest a total of 36 billion won ($30.1 million) in the country’s biopharma company CARsgen Therapeutics. The biotech company is highly praised for its immune cell therapy platform. It is working on a new method to treat patients with glioblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma with a goal to conduct a clinical trial next year.

Becton Dickinson’s (NYSE:BDX) decision to spin off its respiratory devices into a joint venture with Apax Partners will allow it to offload an underperforming segment and concentrate on its core business of diagnostics. And the agreement also highlights the growing involvement of private equity in the medtech industry.

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous contributions to genomic research. In addition to his past key positions, he is founder, current chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic, and environmental genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics.

A University of Maryland startup is among the finalists in Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s Cupid’s Cup, a competition offering a $100,000 prize of the winner.

Angel investment funding in healthcare increased in 2015, compared with the previous years, according to a new report from the Angel Resource Institute and PitchBook. The 2015 Annual Halo Report found that healthcare deals accounted for 23 percent of angel investment.

When Inova Health System announced it would create a $100 million venture fund— unveiled as part of a splashy White House event last month highlighting precision medicine investments— it was just the kind revelation Inova has gotten so good at making in the last year.

Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis—chronic conditions such as these account for 84% of health care spending. Yet many are preventable. An estimated 40% of all premature deaths can be attributed to lifestyle, such as smoking and inactivity. How can the health care system shift focus (and dollars) from acute to preventative care?

Almost every day, we see announcements about yet another “connected” product that is hailed as creating a “smarter” home environment. These types of products promise an easier, more convenient way of living, but they aren’t always connected to our lives—or all that smart.

It was one major issue U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and National Urban League President Marc Morial discussed with entrepreneurs Monday.

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneurs will soon have another funding option for growing early phase startup companies.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has thrown its support behind the creation of a $100 million venture capital fund, which will help meet a need for early stage business startup capital in the Pittsburgh area. Philadelphia-based SG3 Ventures anticipates awarding its first round of funding in about a year, according to Brian McVeigh, vice president of worldwide business development transactions and investment management at GSK.

For the last few years, the spotlight in start-up investing has largely shone on those who poured money into a company when it was already well along on a growth path. It turns out that spotlight may have been misdirected.

When March 30th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Where: Relevant Health 155 Gibbs St. #529 Rockville, MD 20850

Join us for an evening of networking around innovation and commercialization at the BioBuzz @ Relevant Health. Meet with the organizations fueling commercialization in Maryland – BHI & TEDCO – and mingle with the first cohort of companies in the regions newest BioHealth accelerator – Relevant Health.

BHI, who operates the relevant health accelerator, is an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding. This is your chance to get to know some of their TEAM and Entrepreneur’s in Residence to help you bring your product to market.

This event will be TEDCO’s bi-monthly “meet the program managers” event. Take this opportunity mingle with the program managers and learn about how you can navigate through TEDCO’s funding programs. TEDCO is State’s go-to resource for funding start-ups that need guidance as they bring innovative concepts to market..

Novavax Inc. is exploring its options in creating a Zika virus vaccine candidate.

So far, the Gaithersburg vaccine maker (NASDAQ: NVAX) has been mum about whether it would join other Greater Washington companies in the race to stop the Zika virus. The disease has caused concern among worldwide health leaders in recent months because of a suspected connection to birth defects in newborns and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults.

WellDoc, a digital health technology leader, today announced a collaboration with LifeScan, Inc., a business within the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Care Companies and a world leader in blood glucose monitoring, to deliver a best-in-class digital health solution for patients living with Type 2 diabetes. The agreement was facilitated with LifeScan affiliate Cilag GmbH International. In addition to the collaboration, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) participated in WellDoc’s $29.5 million Series B financing.

Johns Hopkins University and MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced a first-of-its-kind PhD training program between a major university and a biopharmaceutical company in the United States.

The Johns Hopkins-MedImmune Scholars Program, part of an ongoing collaboration between the university and biopharmaceutical company, will prepare JHU graduate students for careers in the biomedical workforce. Program participants will gain research experience in an industry environment, be introduced to the drug discovery and development process, and complete a yearlong internship at MedImmune.

U.S. cities continue to reinvent themselves and demonstrate economic resiliency. While The University of Maryland-College Park (UMCP) has long had a reputation as a high-class research institution, its status has had a limited impact on the community surrounding it. With the evolving partnership between UMCP and the City of College Park, however, College Park is on the verge of becoming a hub for new innovation in the Washington, DC area.

CIITC provides a refundable income tax credit to Qualified Maryland Cybersecurity Companies (QMCCs) that secure investment from investors. The purpose of this new program is to incentivize and attract cybersecurity companies to startup in or move to Maryland; and to attract investment to cybersecurity companies in order to help them grow, create jobs and retain intellectual property in Maryland.

The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is interested in proposals to lease a bio-manufacturing facility configured to produce biologicals under cGMP conditions in compliance with FDA requirements for phase I/II clinical trials. The facility is also equipped to perform process development research, preclinical manufacturing for material necessary for IND-enabling toxicology studies, Point of Concept (POC) studies, and process demonstration in advance of GMP manufacturing. The Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility is located on the University of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus at 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its BD Totalys MultiProcessor and BD Totalys SlidePrep instruments.

Companies founded on technology licensed from Johns Hopkins University have raised $1 billion since 2010. And 90 percent of those companies are no longer in Maryland.

Christy Wyskiel, who leads Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, the university’s commercialization arm, hopes to reverse that trend with a new partnership with Village Capital and the Abell Foundation.

AstraZeneca announced that its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, has received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational human monoclonal antibody (mAb), MEDI8852, for the treatment of patients hospitalised with Type A strain influenza. The FDA’s Fast Track programme is designed to expedite the development and review of drugs to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need.

A University of Maryland startup is among the finalists in Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s Cupid’s Cup, a competition offering a $100,000 prize of the winner.

No cases of the Zika virus have originated in the U.S., but the possibility of it spreading north exists so doctors hope to get a better handle on the disease and work toward a cure.

“This virus has really exploded, transmitting throughout Central America, South America, and its arrival in the Americas, and the link to the congenital malformations has really caused concern that we’re seeing today,” said Dr. Lisa Maragakis with Johns Hopkins Infection Prevention.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finally is offering Meaningful Use-type incentives to long-term care, behavioral health and substance abuse care providers. It’s part of a wider effort to morph the electronic health records program into what acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt has said would be “something better” than Meaningful Use.

The very reason United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) exists is because there wasn’t an effective treatment for Martine Rothblatt’s daughter when she was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension more than 20 years ago.

Rothblatt recently told investors the Silver Spring-based pharmaceutical has found the market a bit more crowded these days. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved Actelion Pharmaceuticals LTD’s Uptravi to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

March 29, 2016 2:30pm EST

Are you a small business, entrepreneur or scientist interested in technology-based agriculture innovations? Are you interested in collaborating with world class scientists? Then you should attend this webinar!

USDA ARS and the USDA SBIR program formed a partnership to encourage USDA SBIR applicants to develop research collaborations with ARS scientists and/or to license ARS technologies. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of success by providing both money and technologies to small U.S. businesses. The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission.”

University of Maryland, Baltimore President Jay A. Perman, MD, has been awarded the 2016 Giving Back Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The Giving Back Award honors presidents and chancellors of colleges and universities who go above and beyond their everyday leadership duties and “give back” to their campuses and communities. Perman will be featured, along with 26 other recipients, in the April 2016 Leadership Support and Giving Back issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants General Assembly budget leaders to find more money for economic development initiatives to fuel research into new technologies and allow him to use his executive authority to seal major business deals.

McAuliffe, in a letter Wednesday to budget negotiators for the House of Delegates and Senate, said his “primary area of concern, which I hope we can address together, is the restoration of the economic development proposals contained in my introduced budget.”

The Kansas Senate Ways and Means Committee heard testimony this week on a bill that would essentially sever financial ties between the state and the Kansas Bioscience Authority, according to the committee’s vice chairman Jim Denning, a Republican from Overland Park.

“It’s unwinding it from any state influence and further state funding,” Denning says.

It looks like Healthbox is raising a new fund, according to a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The accelerator is keeping schtum about the Healthbox Opportunity Fund I and declined a request for comment.

Still, its website shows that it is poised to bring its Healthbox Studio accelerators to Orlando, as part of a partnership with Guidewell Innovation Center, and Los Angeles later this year. Healthbox and Guidewell had previous accelerator classes in Miami, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. Los Angeles is home to a few accelerators, including one between Techstars and Cedars-Sinai.

Innovation takes time – and money, and people and resources. That’s why it’s common for a company to focus on core business activities and not build an innovation lab – a specific building or department dedicated to working on prototypes and fleshing out ideas.

Remarkable progress has been made over the last century in enhancing public health, driven largely by advances in science, medicine and our understanding of how disease manifests in the human body. As a result, the average life expectancy doubled during the 20th century.

It’s a familiar story: a biotechnology company develops a promising product but falls short of sales projections. The company then cuts staff, realigns resources, and turns to startups to fill its depleted pipeline.

While this scenario does play out in pharmaceuticals, it also describes what is happening in agriculture. Big ag companies face pressures to develop agricultural innovations and deliver financial returns. Agbio startups vie to fill big ag product pipelines. But even though motives driving agbio deals are similar to those in pharma, agbio startups can face steeper challenges.

What do breast cancer, lung cancer, and Zika virus have in common? They can all be treated with the same medications, claimed biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong at a genetics conference in San Diego on Thursday. The doctor doesn’t shy away from bold statements based on preliminary data and was met with adoration as a kickoff speaker at the Future of Genomic Medicine conference—a science-heavy gathering at the Scripps Institution of geneticists, oncologists, data scientists, and other experts.

ide Group announced today that it will be awarding $25,000 worth of ide Group product design and development support for the best health innovation product idea pitched at the Building Better Futures for Health: A Product Design Challenge event.

Organised and hosted by ide Group, the event hopes to attract early stage entrepreneurs from across Australia with novel product ideas and technologies that have the potential to make a significant difference to people’s health. In response to alarming rises in health care costs and a rapidly ageing population, ide Group joins Australia’s push to find and invest in fresh, new ideas.

Coming soon to a hospital or clinic near you: dynamic healthcare pricing.

It’s not here yet, but Jay Deady, CEO of Recondo Technology, believes it’s on the way. He expects his revenue-cycle management company to enable the service. Healthcare providers will soon be able to offer different out-of-pocket prices depending on when and where each patient goes for a given service, he said.

The Venture+ Forum at HIMSS offered some insights from investors and entrepreneurs ranging from the predictable — patient engagement is oversaturated — to some surprising political insights on the eve of Super Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting observations from the investor panels with a couple of entrepreneur insights as well.

Take MedCity’s brief, confidential survey and share your insights on investment trends in life sciences and digital health.

You thought the Shark Tank was tough… wait until you enter the the first annual Maryland Crab Trap!

Submit your application to our business plan competition for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the Regional Biotech Forum and have the opportunity to win $10,000 and an incubation space! Pitch your idea to industry experts on April 19th and 5 Finalists will have the chance to win the Grand Prize. This competition will be focused on companies in the following sectors: Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Healthcare Services, E-Health, Mobile Health, Electronic Medical Records, Health Informatics, and BioHealth Cyber Security.

Companies will be scored on: Product, Technical Feasibility, Marketing/Strategy, and Leadership team.

Deadline for entries is March 18th – Finalists will be announced by April 4th -Regional Biotech Forum Event: Panel Presentation is on April 18th

Apply here: crabtrap.regionalbiotechforum.com

Corvidia Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of precision cardiovascular therapies, announced today that it has raised $26 million in a Series A financing, co-led by seed-investor Sofinnova Partners, and Apple Tree Partners.

Concurrent with the financing, Corvidia has licensed a clinical stage compound from AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize as its lead therapeutic (COR-001).  Funds from the Series A financing will be used to progress COR-001 into Phase I/II clinical trials during 2016, as well as to advance the company’s preclinical pipeline.

A cancer immunotherapy drug under development at Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc. received “breakthrough” status from the Food and Drug Administration for its use in patients with metastatic bladder cancer. MedImmune, the research and development arm for AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), has multiple clinical trials in its pipeline for the drug candidate durvalumab, or MEDI4736, to treat non-small cell lung cancer, as well as head and neck, bladder, gastric, pancreatic, liver and blood cancers. The drug candidate inhibits what’s known as a programmed death-ligand, or PD-L1 protein, which cancer uses to suppress the immune system.

WorkSource Montgomery, Inc., the workforce development resource for Montgomery County businesses and jobseekers, is proud to announce Dr. Ellie Giles as its new Chief Executive Officer. She will begin her new role March 21.

Giles will lead the non-profit WorkSource Montgomery, Inc. in collaboration with its board and work with the recently seated Workforce Development Board to promote job training and placement for the County’s workforce and meet the needs of County employers. Together, the two boards will direct a robust system of talent development aligned to the future and current economic development priorities for the County.

Biohealth is all over the map in Maryland. There’s the biotech corridor in Montgomery County, where companies like MedImmune LLC and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. call home. The students and academic researchers at Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland are up in Baltimore. Then there are the government agencies and their many, many contractors spread throughout the Baltimore-Washington region.

After raising a seed round, building a team of 14 people in its Canton office and conducting a pair of pilots, Protenus is ready to build a real sales team in 2016.

“Ultimately, we know that selling is hugely time-consuming, it’s hugely specialized, and it’s something that we really wanted to invest in, along with our marketing side,” said cofounder Robert Lord, who’s been handling sales with his fellow cofounders.

The Abell Foundation made its second investment in a year in Vasoptic Medical.

Just like last summer, the nonprofit invested $250,000 in the medical device startup.

“Expanding our investment in Vasoptic Medical Inc. is a win-win for Baltimore,” said a joint statement released by the Abell Foundation board. “Vasoptic is growing Baltimore’s innovative tech industry and is poised to improve access to affordable healthcare for low-income populations.”

Applications for the Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) Life Science Investment Fund are being accepted now through April 15.

The Life Science Investment Fund (LSIF) was previously managed by the former Department of Business and Economic Development under the name Biotechnology Commercialization Award. It was one of the programs that was transferred to TEDCO on October 1, 2015 along with Maryland Venture Fund, following the enactment of legislation passed during the 2015 General Assembly. This legislation was initiated by the Augustine Commission in an attempt to consolidate the State’s efforts to provide seed/early-stage business investment.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) acquired the HIV portfolio from Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). Both sides announced the preliminary deal in December. GSK pays $350 million up front and could pay an additional $1 billion depending on developmental and sales milestones.

Venture capital organization NextGen Venture Partners is launching a Baltimore office with the goal of bringing more investors to Baltimore and doing more deals in the city.

NextGen Venture Partners is a national network of early-stage investors that taps into cities’ entrepreneurship communities to draw out new investors. The organization has hubs in five cities and is launching in three more, including Baltimore.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM (EST)

Montgomery County Department of Economic Development – 111 Rockville Pike Suite 800 Rockville, MD 20850

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is based on Silver Spring, MD, but is served by laboratories and science centers across the country. From severe weather and climate to ocean and coastal sciences, NOAA’s work is extremely varied and offers a number of opportunities for MD companies. This presentation from NOAA’s Technology Partnerships Office will provide an overview of NOAA’s science activities, as well as ways private sector companies can work with NOAA.

Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) followed Merck’s ($MRK) Keytruda onto the market, but the immuno-oncology drug quickly overtook its rival and has never looked back. It just today won recommendations in Europe for two more indications. But while it leads the race, analysts say there are still opportunities for Keytruda and drug candidates from others to close the gap in a market that is projected to reach $40 billion in annual sales.

Fast Company magazine recently named the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as one of the world’s most innovative companies of 2016 for building the bionic man, one arm at a time.

The publication highlighted APL’s DARPA-funded Revolutionizing Prosthetics program and specifically recognized its breakthrough Modular Prosthetic Limb project, which is the world’s first artificial limb controlled by neural impulses.

Business Innovation Network startup Nexercise owners Ben Young and Greg Coleman struck a deal with investor Mark Cuban for $1.5 million in exchange for 10% equity stake in the company and $1.5 million unsold advertising inventory in credit. Their app Sworkit is in the number one position in the Apple store for health and fitness and was a recent featured story on Washington Business Journal’s website.

In March and April, entrepreneurs can take a tour of Baltimore-area incubators, and pick up some knowledge on running a startup in the meantime.

Camp Inc. is a six-stop event that’s set to move through Baltimore, Towson, Baltimore County and Columbia.

Inova Health System will launch a $100 million venture fund dedicated to precision medicine. The Falls Church-based health system plans to announce the initiative Thursday as part of an Obama administration event unveiling federal funding and highlighting private-sector commitments in the nascent science.

Recent research suggests that the site of vaccine administration significantly influences the tissue specificity and durability of the resulting immune response. Conventional vaccines delivered by intramuscular injection may therefore be unsuitable for the prevention of diseases with tissue tropisms distinct from the site of administration. Notably, for mucosally-transmitted pathogens such as herpes simplex virus (HSV), the current inability to generate a sustain immune response at the primary site of infection, the genital mucosa, has hindered the development effective preventative vaccines.

Funding and Research Opportunities The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

Biotech company in Princeton plans clinical tests of birth-control patch thanks to state-administered incentive program

If Princeton-based biotechnology firm Agile Therapeutics can eventually get federal approval to bring its promising new female contraceptive patch to market, credit will go to more than just the company’s employees and investors

The TCM Industry Awards Celebration will take place on May 11, 2016 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. This is our 28th year recognizing the high achievers in the regional technology, life science and government contracting industries.

On May 11, the Tech Council will come together with the technology, life science and government contracting communities to celebrate the achievements of the companies and individuals that propelled innovation and made 2015 such a memorable year for our region. Your attendance supports the finalists and the mission of the Tech Council.

A “Wired for Health” study recently reported by The Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego poses a significant challenge for those working to realize the potential of digital health technologies.

The Scripps team has been investigating the relationship between wireless health-monitoring technologies, healthcare costs, and outcomes in patients with chronic disease. After equipping one cohort of patients with an iPhone and a connected tracking device, researchers analyzed claims and medical data to track care utilization and outcomes, ultimately finding no significant economic or clinical benefit for the patients being monitored versus a control group.

I have provided capital for many start-up businesses, and raised money for a few of my own. I am often asked for advice on how or whether an entrepreneur should seek venture capital. My initial advice is simple: Don’t.

Entrepreneurs usually start businesses because they need autonomy and independence; they cannot work for someone else. As my granddad used to tell me, “no one gives you money for nothing.” That is certainly true for investors. They give entrepreneurs cash because they want to make more cash. They expect to be listened to, or at least have their financial interests regarded as the entrepreneur uses their capital to grow his or her business. Boom. Just like that — by taking outside capital — the entrepreneur sacrifices autonomy.

University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor Robert Caret’s schedule Monday showed a full day of meeting, greeting, and listening on the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus. In the morning, UMB’s deans and vice presidents shared accomplishments and talked about their goals for each of the university’s seven schools. For lunch it was a special edition of UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD’s regular brown bag affair, with attendees unaware of their star guest until he walked through the door! Later, student leaders had a chance to question Caret and express their interests and concerns.

A renewed push by state lawmakers to combine the flagship University of Maryland, College Park with the health- and law-focused University of Maryland, Baltimore could give the state a dual-campus powerhouse that would leverage the strengths of both institutions to launch new programs, discoveries, and businesses, supporters say.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Bill Ferguson and Del. Curt Anderson and backed by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller would move the 80-employee headquarters of the state university system from Adelphi to Baltimore and establish a ventures office to help faculty and students market their inventions commercially.

Physicians and biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins report what they believe is the first successful effort to wiggle fingers individually and independently of each other using a mind-controlled artificial “arm” to control the movement.

The proof-of-concept feat, described online this week in the Journal of Neural Engineering, represents a potential advance in technologies to restore refined hand function to those who have lost arms to injury or disease, the researchers say. The young man on whom the experiment was performed was not missing an arm or hand, but he was outfitted with a device that essentially took advantage of a brain-mapping procedure to bypass control of his own arm and hand.

The grand vision of Walt Disney — one of the most innovative entrepreneurs of all time — was simply to make people happy.

Walt further believed that if you can dream it, you can do it. While the priorities and technologies have changed, it was Walt’s original vision that led to Disney’s greatest innovations. Think about them: from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animation feature (1937), to Tiki Room opening and introducing the first electro-mechanical robots (1963), to modern Disney stores adopting Apple Pay.

Rani Therapeutics, headquartered in San Jose, Calif., announced it had closed on its latest funding round, now totaling more than $70 million. Existing investors included Novartis (NVS), Google Ventures, Buttonwood, GF Ventures, KPC Pharmaceuticals, inCube Ventures and VentureHealth. New investors include AstraZeneca (AZN), Virtus Inspire Ventures, and Ping An Ventures. Rani focuses on a development platform to allow biologic drugs that are typically injected to be taken orally. Drugs that fall into this category include TNF-alpha inhibitors, interleukin antibodies, basal insulin and GLP-1.

Health Datapalooza is a national conference focused on liberating health data, and bringing together the companies, startups, academics, government agencies, and individuals with the newest and most innovative and effective uses of health data to improve patient outcomes.

China will develop traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into a pillar industry, according to a blueprint released by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, on Friday.

The plan proposes universal access to TCM care by 2020. By 2030, TCM should make a notably greater contribution to social and economic development.

The week of April 3-9 Paul Singh, a successful entrepreneur and seed-stage investor, will visit Los Alamos, Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque to deliver a week-long series of events for aspiring entrepreneurs and community members.

This position is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation that will have responsibility for overall administrative and management direction for the organization. The primary mission of MCEDC is to market Montgomery County worldwide as the region of choice for business investment and expansion. This leader will position MEDC as the County’s lead economic development and marketing organization for promoting, recruiting, and expanding businesses in Montgomery County. The ability to retain and grow existing businesses is of paramount importance. The CEO will lead an organization that enhances the impact of all companies invested in Montgomery County including small business and culturally diverse entities. The CEO will also advocate for strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem helping to develop a community that cultivates and encourages entrepreneurs while making maximum use of the local diverse, skilled population.

Three years after Michael Davidson and his colleagues sold the omega-3 drug Epanova to AstraZeneca ($AZN) in the $443 million Omthera buyout, the biotech exec has rounded up some fresh support from a seasoned ally in the venture world to begin building a new biotech focused on cardiovascular disease.

CC Biotech LLC, Rockville MD, developing advanced separations technologies for large molecules, is awarded an SBIR phase I grant from the National Science Foundation for the project ‘Spiral Countercurrent Chromatography for the Separation of Carbon Nanotubes’. The new technique has been applied for the first time to successfully purify single wall carbon nanotube species which are semi-conductors. The application will enable the processing of potent semi-conductors to be added to sensor circuits. The implications of this R&D have wide application to not only bio-sensor devices, but also in the preparation of nanotech molecules as therapeutic nanoparticles and conjugates for drug delivery.

PapGene, Inc., a privately-held company commercializing advanced molecular tests, announced that it was recently awarded a highly competitive Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to commercialize a test to detect ovarian and endometrial cancers.

The funds for this Fast-Track grant will be released in two phases, which together have the potential to provide a total of nearly $2.3 million in resources to PapGene’s test commercialization efforts. Phase I will provide $297,000 to the company to demonstrate the accuracy of the test and its clinical validity. Upon successful completion of Phase I, Phase II will provide approximately $2 million to demonstrate the clinical utility of the test and to launch its regulatory approval process.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award has become the mark of world-class individuals leading world-class companies. We invite you to be part of this exciting program. At a time when innovators are leading the way to a better world, we are seeking your help to identify those individuals whose diligence and relentless pursuit of their dreams set them apart from the rest.

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year honors entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, hard work and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures. The program is celebrating its 30th year and has expanded to more than 145 cities and 60 countries around the world. EY forms a group of individuals from the business community to participate as the independent panel of judges for the program. This panel is made up of past award winners and C-suite leadership of high-growth entrepreneurial organizations. It also includes influential business leaders from the venture capital and private equity communities.

Roche ($RHHBY) and AstraZeneca ($AZN) picked up FDA breakthrough therapy designations for their top pipeline assets, moving forward in multiple sclerosis and cancer with treatments tabbed as potential blockbusters.

Protenus Raises $4 Million Series A to Protect Patient Privacy on a National Scale

Protenus, the leader in next-generation privacy protection solutions for electronic medical record systems, has raised $4 mm in a Series A round led by Arthur Ventures. Protenus is also pleased to receive the support of LionBird Venture Capital, DreamIt Ventures, Cognosante, TEDCO, and the Baltimore Angels.

A study just completed by the Sage Policy Group on behalf of the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) has concluded that Maryland’s 30 small business incubators are having a significant and far-reaching impact on the state’s economy.

When: Thursday February 25, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST

Where: Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research

Join BioBuzz and our newest ELITE SPONSOR the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at their newly renovated facilities in Rockville. The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is a University System of Maryland joint research enterprise created to enhance collaboration among the University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland Baltimore and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The mission of IBBR is to leverage collective research strengths of the partnering institutions in medicine, biosciences, technology, quantitative sciences and engineering, to foster integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery and education, and to serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and technology in the state of Maryland and the Nation.

The 2016 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards publicly recognizes achievements by current clients and graduates of Maryland incubators and provides a forum for the nominees to increase their visibility in the business, technology and investment communities.

Business incubators support new and early-stage businesses in Maryland. In 1986, the first public incubator was established at the University of Maryland in College Park. Recognizing the economic challenges facing new companies, business incubators are facilities that provide reasonable market rents, shared services and technical assistance to start-ups and early-stage companies, including manufacturing, biotech, service and technology firms.

Despite long-term declines in business creation and slow growth, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of entrepreneurship in the United States. This message, delivered by Kauffman President and CEO Wendy Guillies in the State of Entrepreneurship Address, summarizes key findings in a publication released yesterday called The New Entrepreneurial Growth Agenda.

For the second straight year, state legislators from Baltimore are backing an effort to create a tax credit for angel investors in Maryland.

The bills, filed by State Sen. Catherine Pugh and Del. Brooke Lierman, would create a tax credit of 50 percent of an investment made in a startup. The bills create a reserve fund to distribute the tax credit, which could be up to $5 million per year, an analysis states.

When: Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Where: University of Maryland Biopark

This workshop is intended to help make you a smarter entrepreneur…A good accounting process and system can help you identify and track key metrics of your business REAL TIME to help you make better decisions. Plus, all investors and banks want to see your financial projections. In the first part of the workshop, Mike Lynch and Jim Jenkins from SC&H will lead attendees through an educational presentation on:

The National Science Foundation plans to expand its innovation ecosystem by funding new hubs of what it calls the Innovation Corps — a set of training programs and other initiatives to rapidly translate progress made in labs to the commercial world.

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) invites Young Women In Bio (YWIB) and area middle school girls to participate in an afternoon of science immersion. WRAIR shares YWIB’s passion for engaging the DC/Baltimore community in science, technology, engineering, and math, and supports numerous educational outreach programs. Through their GEMS (Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science) program, adolescents get to experience firsthand scientific method and valuable experimental techniques.

Come join WRAIR and YWIB for a taste of this exciting curriculum. Middle school girls will first tour the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Next, in the teaching lab, WRAIR scientists will help the girls perform a basic dissection, observe the protists that aid in termite digestion, and learn the math behind pipetting. Registration is limited to 25 girls so please be sure to sign-up early to reserve your place.

Here’s the most important thing you need to know about being an entrepreneur, according to Under Armour Inc. CEO Kevin Plank:

“Everything matters. The way you carry yourself, the way your business card looks, the way you dress during the day.”

A Symposium for manufacturers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and educators to explore new bio-medical applications of additive manufacturing and 3D Printing. Keynote by Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. Featuring presentations from top thought leaders in government, industry, and academia. Download the event flyer and agenda: Biomedical Symposium Flyer and Agenda

At Doctor on Demand, a popular online health site, patients can videoconference with physicians on a host of maladies, from skin rashes and flu diagnoses to getting a prescription for an eye infection. On Maven, a telemedicine app targeted to women, nurse practitioners chat with patients on issues such as birth control, breast feeding and postpartum depression. Opternative offers online eye exams that it says are just as accurate as in-person tests. It’s a boom time for telehealth. Just as smartphone apps have revolutionized ride-hailing and apartment-sharing, telemedicine technology is upending health care.

Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, a division of Pfizer that maintains consumer health brands including Advil, Caltrate, Centrum, ChapStick, and Nexium24 HR, has partnered with education company Galvanize to launch a health tech accelerator.

The United States has long had the world’s most effective and competitive system for discovering and developing new drugs—and for more than a half century, there has been a bipartisan consensus that there are two reasons for that success: First, the federal government provides robust funding for scientific research, mostly through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Second, the U.S. system encourages vigorous innovation in the private sector by providing strong intellectual property protections and a drug reimbursement system that together allow companies to earn sufficient revenues to reinvest in highly risky research and development.1 But today that consensus is fraying as populists on the left and libertarians on the right question both the policy means and the end result. If the center cannot hold and the longstanding bipartisan policy framework falls apart, then the future of U.S. biomedical innovation will be in peril.

Virginia’s House and Senate finance committees released two-year budget proposals Sunday that boost funding for economic development in a state bludgeoned by federal spending cuts, The Washington Post reports.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, has made growing and diversifying Virginia’s economy one of his top priorities.

Biotech and the overall equity markets have been under siege the past few months from macro forces, like oil and the economy, as well as sector-specific concerns like drug pricing.

After watching the carnage in 2016 wreck havoc with small and large cap stocks alike, I figured it was time to revisit the post-market performance of the recent biotech IPO cohort. It’s grim, as you might expect. A rising tide lifts all the boats, and a falling one leaves a lot of small ones exposed on the shoreline. Here are a few metrics on the VC-backed IPO cohort since 2013, as of February 11, 2016:

It’s hard for most people to find time to work out to stay fit, but when fitness has been part of your life since high school and you’ve served in the military, it’s a problem that can be especially vexing. That is what happened to Gregory Coleman, Chief Operating Officer of Nexercise, a Business Innovation Network member. A three-season high school athlete who graduated from the Air Force Academy, served as an Air Force and Air National Guard pilot, was enrolled in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, plus was married and had a family, Greg felt like he was too busy to make it to the gym. Fellow Wharton student Ben Young, Chief Executive Officer of Nexercise, felt similar pain, and thought they could solve that problem in 2010 by taking advantage of the technology of Apple’s new iPhone.

In testimony to the U.S. International Trade Commission, Stephen Ezell explained why the biotech industry is a key driver of the U.S. economy and global life sciences innovation, and he argued that robust intellectual property standards in the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be critical to both. Ezell notes that the U.S. provides 12 years of IP protection for clinical test data, so it is disappointing that the TPP commits U.S. trading partners to provide eight at most.

Qiagen N.V. announced the introduction of more than 170 new QIAseq Targeted RNA Panels for gene expression profiling, expanding Qiagen’s portfolio of Sample to Insight solutions for next-generation sequencing (NGS). The panels enable researchers to select from over 20,000 human genes and lncRNA to survey expression fold changes and discover interactions between genes, cellular phenotypes and disease processes.

Vinita Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, and Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Ltd. have been chosen the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015.

F. C. Kohli, former Vice-Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering contribution towards the Indian software industry and nation-building.

The median pay among STEM workers in 2014 was more than $72,000. That’s more than double the median income among all occupations, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Few would argue, however, that STEM workers are generally overpaid. Experts in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math are key contributors to economic growth. Furthermore, STEM occupations generally require years of rigorous and difficult training.

“You are cordially invited to the “SBIR and STTR Federal Funding Mechanisms for Improving the Reach of Behavioral Science” seminar at the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) 2016 Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions. National Cancer Institute SBIR (NCI SBIR) Development Center Program Director Dr. Patricia Weber will be leading the seminar with presenters from NIH, including NCI and NHLBI, a HealthTech investment CEO and a small business entrepreneur. The session will include a range of topics such as an overview of the SBIR/STTR program goals, how NCI and NHLBI work to help with the commercialization process, how SBIR/STTR funding can advance behavioral science, investor perspectives on behavioral health products, and perspectives from an awardee.”

Enterprising startups are disrupting incumbent players in industries as diverse as publishing, entertainment and personal finance. Healthcare is far from immune to this tech-driven business trend— across the industry, young and innovative firms are giving legacy systems a run for their money.

At the heart of the change sweeping across the healthcare business is data.

On February 8, 2016, the National Institute of Standards and Technology hosted a ribbon cutting and building dedication ceremony for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence’s (NCCoE) new facility in Rockville, Md. 

Representing the public-private collaboration at the center, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Ben Cardin, Rep. John Delaney, Rep. John Sarbanes, Maryland Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Willie May participated in the ribbon cutting.

Does your organization have a product or service that could make a difference for people in emerging economies?

Take the Innovation into Action Challenge and earn the chance to compete for $100,000 in prizes, build relationships with development professionals and their firms, and put your innovation into action in one of 100 locations around the world.

A Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) team, including staff and senior fellows, recently concluded a review of state financing and incentive programs for the Maryland Economic Development Commission and the Maryland Department of Commerce. Thanks to guest blogger Catherine Renault for this project summary.

APPLICATIONS FOR SPRING 2016 DUE March 1, 2016

At Illumina, we’re committed to unlocking the power of the genome, but we know we can’t do it alone. The Illumina Accelerator is our way of accelerating innovation in the entrepreneurial community. With extensive mentorship, financial support, and access to sequencing systems, reagents, and lab space, we’ve created a dynamic genomic ecosystem to help startups launch. Together we’ll advance the solutions that will transform medicine and improve human health.

Michael Milken, one of the biggest medical philanthropists in the country, on medical research today.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully created mini-brains by culturing stem cells and neurons. The mini-brains have similarities in functioning to human brain but the size is quite small. They can be used for testing drugs and treatment options for neurological disorders.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, a network of over 300 government-run labs and agencies that work to make federal technology and expertise available to industry, this week announced the opening of its newly remodeled website, federallabs.org.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) core research, technology transfer, and commercialization programs generated nearly $1 billion in economic contributions to the Maryland economy in 2015, according to a new study by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice released today. Battelle, the world’s largest non-profit research and development organization, also found that TEDCO’s efforts generated a total of 4,358 high-quality jobs, with an average income per job of $74,700. That compares favorably to a statewide average labor income per worker of $63,700.

Bobby Gattuso became a startup founder while an undergraduate at Towson University.

Hop Theory’s sachets that bring beer up to craft levels got early traction through Kickstarter and national press hits.

It’s comforting to believe that the world of venture funding is a meritocracy.

It’s comforting to believe that a founder has a good idea, pitches successfully and gets money from a VC to turn said idea into a business.

President Obama’s proposed nearly $4.15 trillion budget for the 2017 federal fiscal year offers small increases for NIH and FDA, sets up a showdown over sources of NIH funding, and directs big dollars to research programs championed by the administration, in a spending plan unlikely to face smooth sailing in Congress.

Obama is seeking $33.1 billion in overall program level funding for NIH, up about $1 billion or 3% from the current fiscal year, during which the president and Congress agreed to a $2 billion spending hike for the agency.

When: Thursday February 25, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST

Where: Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research

Join BioBuzz and our newest ELITE SPONSOR the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at their newly renovated facilities in Rockville. The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is a University System of Maryland joint research enterprise created to enhance collaboration among the University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland Baltimore and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The mission of IBBR is to leverage collective research strengths of the partnering institutions in medicine, biosciences, technology, quantitative sciences and engineering, to foster integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery and education, and to serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and technology in the state of Maryland and the Nation.

The Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology has opened its new incubator, called Harbor Launch. The incubator is designed for biotech and environmental science startups, and is looking for its first member companies. The Inner Harbor space can accommodate between 10 and 15 companies and has access to four small wet labs — a crucial resource for the kind of startups IMET wants to attract.

Today’s venture capital market is one where a company with less than 200 employees can rake in more than $100 million from investors. But one corner of the market has largely been left behind: companies offering new medical devices.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has recently received approval to perform organ transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients.

The hospital announced in a news release Monday that it plans to perform the nation’s first kidney transplant between an HIV-positive donor and recipient and the first such liver transplant in the world. These transplants could take place as soon as a suitable organ becomes available and a recipient is identified and prepared.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation today announced the appointment of Victor W. Hwang as vice president of entrepreneurship. Hwang will relocate from California to Kansas City to lead the Foundation’s renowned entrepreneurship programming. He starts on Feb. 29.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m getting tired of Steve Jobs. Sure, he was an innovation icon. But, in my view, the media and pundits are creating unrealistic expectations hyping and promoting the Jobs/Branson/Musk iconography.

10x Genomics has announced two new sequencing partnerships with Qiagen and Illumina.

Yesterday, 10x said that it is partnering with Qiagen to co-develop and co-market next-generation sequencing and single-cell biology analysis workflows and informatics solutions.

Yumanity Therapeutics, a drug developer focused on diseases caused by protein misfolding, has raised $45 million in Series A funding. Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round with participation from Redmile Group, Alexandria Venture Investments, Biogen, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures and Dolby Family Ventures.

A senior Google executive, Jeff Huber, will become the CEO of Grail, the high-profile company launched in January to develop and commercialize cancer blood tests.

According to Forbes, Huber’s wife, Laura, died from colon cancer last November, leaving behind two teenage children. “That’s a big part of why I’m taking this up,” Huber told the magazine.

The Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park has been renamed to Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC). The new name reflects the Center’s mission of fostering a more innovative workforce.

The Montgomery College Board of Trustees approved the new name which is relevant to today’s economic environment and to the business sectors who partner with the academic programs represented at the park.

DATE: Wednesday, February 10, 2016

LOCATION: Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20850

Southern Maryland’s Energetics Technology Center (ETC-MD) announces it is opening Montgomery County’s newest technology business incubator as part of the ETC-MD TechFire incubator network at the former National Labor College located at 10000 New Hampshire Avenue. This incubator is sponsored by the Army Research Labs and is purposed to serve companies interested in commercializing ARL developed technologies although other technology companies will be considered as well. Find out how you can work successfully with the Army Research Lab at this informative session.

Hear from the exciting companies completing the first Relevant Health cohort! This event is currently invite only, but if you would like to find out more and possibly attend please send an email to info@relevanthealth.md

To find out more about the cohort, click here!

Baltimore health IT startup Protenus Inc. has raised $2.6 million of a $4 million equity funding round, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

CosmosID, the leading genomic big data company focused on microbiome research, outbreak investigations, and infectious disease diagnostics, using next-generation DNA sequencing, announced $6M in Series B funding. The company will expand its engineering capabilities, enhance clinical applications, undertake research and development to improve linkage of the DNA genetic code to actual biological traits (genotype to phenotype), such as antibiotic resistance, and develop new products directed at monitoring, predicting, and preventing disease outbreaks.

GlaxoSmithKline has expanded its alliance with Adaptimmune Therapeutics to accelerate its lead clinical cancer programme toward pivotal trials in synovial sarcoma. The companies signed a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement in June last year for up to five programs, including the lead programme, an affinity enhanced T-cell immunotherapy (GSK3377794) targeting NY-ESO-1, one of the best-characterised and most immunogenic cancer antigens frequently expressed by tumours. GSK can license the programme if it chooses to.

In the blink of an eye, a business world that required only antivirus protection now requires far better solutions to combat sophisticated, determined ‘bad actors’ who want to steal your valuable information. You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch a news program and not read or hear about an important breach. Despite spending at a rate of $100 billion annually, global damages from cybersecurity breaches and attacks are on a trajectory to increase from $500 billion to potentially more than $2 trillion per year.

US President Barack Obama’s plan to get a vast Pacific Rim trade deal through Congress this year is taking flak from the presidential campaign trail, where disdain for the pact appears to be one of the rare unifying themes for almost everyone from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.

Mission Therapeutics said Tuesday it raised a 60 million pound ($85.8 million) financing round led by Imperial Innovations Businesses LLP. New investor Woodford Patient Capital Trust Plc took part with follow-on investment from existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, SR One, Roche Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments. U.K.-based Mission Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Spero Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company targeting drug resistant bacterial infections, raised $30 million in Series B preferred financing, matching the $30 million Series A round Spero raised in June. Existing Series A investors Atlas Venture, SR One, MRL Ventures, Lundbeckfond Ventures, The Kraft Group and Partners Innovation Fund all returned to participated.

Dictionary.com defines “outlier” as: (1) something that lies outside the main body or group that it is a part of, (2) someone who stands apart from others of his or her group, as by differing behavior, beliefs, or religious practices (Synonyms: nonconformist, maverick, original), (3) Statistics: (a) an observation that is well outside of the expected range of values in a study or experiment, (b) a person whose abilities, achievements, etc., lie outside the range of statistical probability.

Merck has expanded its digital health accelerator programme, opening it up in the first country outside its home territory of Germany. The company has picked Kenya for the new programme, which will run for three months and see it look for three digital health startups to support with equity-free funding of $15,000.

For the past five years until January, a team of federal contractors has been poring over academic journals, news reports and press releases in search of emerging technology that could change the outcome of clinical care.

The team’s goal was to write reports containing lists of topics worth further research from the Department of Health and Human Services. The assessment team surfaced medical products and techniques such as “wearable artificial kidney for managing end-stage renal disease” or “joint-sparing knee implant[s] for treatment of knee osteoarthritis,” according to the team’s report from last year.

A Virginia House panel on Wednesday advanced bills that would allocate about $40 million for grants that some of the state’s most powerful business, education and government interests are touting as a boon to regional economic growth.

The complex nature of cancer and its manifestation strikes fear in the heart of many who receive the diagnosis. Scientists are making incredible strides, however, in both the development of diagnostic techniques and treatments. International Innovation’s Stephanie Spurr speaks with Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy at UCL, Waseem Qasim, and explores how gene editing is contributing to far greater success in this field.

The World Medical Innovation Forum is shaping up as a fantastic showcase of cancer innovation, breakthrough science and thought leadership from across the oncology community. I encourage you to join me at this unrivaled gathering. For a full list of all of the speakers, visit the website at: worldmedicalinnovation.org/speakers