As we heard at our big MoCo Forecast event this morning in Bethesda, growing jobs there will require wooing those you already have. (If you have leftover Valentine’s chocolate, put it to work.)
BioHealth Innovation CEO Rich Bendis (far left, as well as on the big screen as an ace ballplayer) says variety should be a big part of job growth: “A balanced portfolio of new, existing, and large anchors.” Going international should also be a focus; Rich feels the county should lock down foreign tech companies who might otherwise look to Boston, Silicon Valley, Philly, or the NC Research Triangle. Rich was joined on our first panel by Ike, Technology Council of Maryland CEO Phil Schiff, and Foulger-Pratt VP Brigg Bunker.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Cangene Corporation for $222 million in cash. After payment by Cangene of transaction related costs, Emergent expects to receive approximately $40 million of cash from Cangene in connection with closing. The completion of the acquisition follows the successful conclusion of all closing conditions, including approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and a positive vote by Cangene shareholders at a special shareholder meeting held on February 12, 2014. The transaction is consistent with Emergent’s growth plan in that it diversifies the company’s revenue mix, adds commercial product sales and contributes to earnings growth.
Roger Jeffs hopes that someday all medicines will be classified as orphan drugs. Allow the president and COO of United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR) to explain. He wants the pharmaceutical world to get to a place where every drug is so specifically targeted that it would apply to only a few people worldwid
20/20 GeneSystems, Inc. (“20/20”) announced today that the National Cancer Institute has awarded the company a cost-sharing Phase II Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) contract to develop, optimize, and validate (analytically and clinically) a test to help predict whether a patient with advanced stage kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) is likely to benefit from anti-angiogenic therapy. The anticipated end result is a diagnostic test that will indicate to oncologists the appropriate treatment for patients.
AnthroTronix (www.atinc.com), an award-winning research and development (R&D) company that designs human-inspired products that define the future of mobile technology, recently awarded the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine a subcontract to use AnthroTronix’s technology to study ways to improve clinical care in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). This subcontract is in support of a U.S Army Rapid Innovation Fund project at AnthroTronix.
Researcher Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will lead the research. The subcontract supports the work designed to enhance patient care, specifically related to the application of AnthroTronix’s Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA), mobile brain vitals health assessment tool.
Faculty researchers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University were recognized for their groundbreaking research and its impact on human health with 2014 BioMaryland LIFE (Leading Innovative Faculty Entrepreneurs) awards. Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Dominick Murray and BioMaryland Center Executive Director Dr. Judy Britz presented the awards to Dr. Jonathan Powell of the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center to further develop a new therapeutic agent for diabetes type II; and to Dr. Eduardo Davila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore for his T-cell based universal immunotherapy platform to fight cancer. First awarded in 2010, the LIFE prizes are two $50,000 grants funded by the BioMaryland Center along with the two universities to help advance research in biotech and biopharma, medical devices, or diagnostics that have the greatest potential for commercial application.
An entrepreneurial culture is alive and well in the nation’s capital, bolstered by a wave of successful startups of various shapes and sizes that are creating jobs and improving the world. In pursuing continued economic growth that is not dependent upon federal funds, the D.C. community must focus on encouraging and supporting more entrepreneurs. One clear path to accelerating the evolution of a startup culture, highlighted by the University of Maryland’s recent recognition as the top public university for technology entrepreneurship in the 2013 StartEngine College Index, is through our local institutions of higher education. Their curricula, access to space and technology, and vast alumni networks make universities the perfect home for entrepreneurship, and their efforts to create a new generation of entrepreneurs need our community’s support.
Federal and Maryland officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg to develop new cyber security technology and provide opportunities for students in the state.
The agreement plans to expand on a February 2012 collaboration agreement signed by NIST, Maryland officials and Montgomery County officials to establish the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
Just what is a “National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence,” anyway?
I’ve heard this question muttered repeatedly, in one form or another, in the course of covering the ongoing bio vs. cyber dispute over the future of the William Hanna Center for Innovation at Shady Grove.
University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Harpoon Medical, Inc. announced today that Harpoon Medical has obtained exclusive rights to a portfolio of technologies for cardiac valve repair from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). The licensed technology was developed in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at The University of Maryland School of Medicine. A $200,000 award from the BioMaryland Center and a $50,000 BioMaryland LIFE (Leading Innovative Faculty Entrepreneurs) Prize supported the company’s early development efforts. Since the company’s formation in early July 2013, the Harpoon Medical team has secured more than $300,000 in competitive grants and additional award funding from the BioMaryland Center and TEDCO.
“Harpoon Medical is a particularly exciting UMB startup and the minimally invasive technology for mitral valve repair – without the need to open the chest or stop the heart – has the potential to dramatically improve patient care,” said Phil Robilotto, the University’s Assistant Vice President, Office of Technology Transfer. “Harpoon’s management team has a well-established track record, and Harpoon has already made significant progress on both the product development and fundraising fronts.”
Please join Montgomery County’s business, nonprofit, philanthropic, government, education and resident leaders in a discussion about building the workforce of the future.
To begin, Montgomery Moving Forward is focusing on jobs – learning together, advocating together and experimenting together– so that more residents achieve self-sufficiency, more local businesses find qualified workers, more communities contribute to and share in countywide prosperity and so the County can establish lasting pathways to success for our changing community. Symposium Planning Committee: representatives of A Wider Circle; CollegeTracks; Community Foundation for Montgomery County/Community Foundation for the National Capital Region; Jewish Social Service Agency; Identity; LAYC/Maryland Multicultural Youth Center; Montgomery Business Development Corporation; Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy; Montgomery College; Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families; Montgomery County Council; Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, Workforce Services Division; Montgomery County Public Schools; Universities at Shady Grove; Workforce Solutions Group
Keeping your computer safe is always a top priority for students, government officials and nine-to-fivers paranoid about losing their tech investment, or worse – face a security breach. Thanks to a new product from University of Maryland-based CoolCAD Electronics LLC, though, you may not have to worry about your computer’s well-being any more.
The startup from College Park just launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign for its new GateKeeper Chain security product, a trendy-looking little key fob that automatically locks your computer when you leave. Then, once you return, it unlocks.
Southern Maryland’s economic potential lies in the region’s higher education institutions producing highly technical and skilled workers, according to area leaders.
Military officials, educators, business leaders and others discussed Southern Maryland’s potential economic growth Monday during a forum at the Prince Frederick campus of the College of Southern Maryland.
Epidarex Capital, a leading international early-stage life science venture capital fund, has invested in Confluence Life Sciences Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the rapid discovery and development of drugs to address unmet needs in cancer and chronic inflammatory disease.
Confluence’s innovative KINect Technology Platform enables the identification and development of new protein kinase drugs in a fraction of the time of other approaches. Confluence’s team of world-class drug developers has created a pipeline of drug candidates which focus on creating kinase inhibitors targeting hard-to-treat cancers. Confluence’s lead program targets the kinase TAK1, which is important in cancer cell transformation, metastasis, tumor growth and drug resistance, especially in pancreatic and other cancers such as breast and colon.
Scott Block has always been interested in entrepreneurship. As an undergraduate , he looked for opportunities to get involved in start-ups at the University of Maryland, and he helped a few other students build Web applications for their own business ideas. Over time, he saw how difficult it was for those entrepreneurial students to connect with others like them on campus.
Two other students, Avi Eisenberger and Justin Searles, shared Block’s frustration. The three decided to work together to solve the problem by creating a place for student entrepreneurs to come together online, share ideas and track their ventures. The team created a platform and app called VentureBoard.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites small businesses to submit Phase I research applications under this Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO). Firms with strong research capabilities in any of the areas listed in Section 9 of the Full Announcement/FFO document are encouraged to participate. Applications not addressing one of the Subtopics in Section 9 are not responsive to this FFO. NIST offers two types of Subtopics in Section 9 of this FFO: standard research “R” and tech transfer “TT” Subtopics. Both “R” and “TT” subtopics are intended to cultivate private sector innovation and foster and encourage participation by minority and disadvantaged persons in technological innovation.
It’s a bit surreal to go to a science fair at a hospital. But the group of health IT companies from DreamIt Venture’s accelerator coupled with demonstrations of technology from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania helped set the scene for a new initiative by DreamIt that’s starting at CHOP. The program is designed to help companies and institutions develop enterprise software and commercially viable companies.
DreamIt Ventures’ Open Canvas@CHOP is a one-year program at the pediatric hospital to help it further develop its reputation for pediatric innovation but in enterprise software. The program will also see two teams from the institution take part in DreamIt Health’s next accelerator class in Philadelphia this summer.
Illumina Inc. is launching what it bills as the world’s first genomics incubator, saying it has teamed up with technology billionaire Yuri Milner and Silicon Valley Bank to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in startups.
The San Diego maker of genome sequencing equipment said that it plans to offer aspiring genomics businesses both funding and access to lab equipment. Work would take place in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For Marie Johnson, coming up with a better way to detect coronary artery disease is both a business and a personal mission.
Johnson is CEO of AUM Cardiovascular, a Minnesota medical device company that’s developing a potentially cheaper, simpler, eight-minute test to detect signs of coronary artery disease — the primary cause of heart attack.
UCSF and electronics giant Samsung are establishing a center for digital health care innovation, they said Friday, an endeavor that seeks to accelerate the development of mobile technologies for preventive health care.
The lab, to be located on UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, will function as a kind of cross-cultural exchange, the rare kind of space where technologists and innovators will be able to validate technologies like smartphone apps or wearable sensors alongside top medical researchers. At the same time, researchers and clinicians will be able to funnel ideas through Samsung designers and engineers.
Here in Washington, we woke up to a thick blanket of snow from the largest snowstorm of an already active winter season. The federal government, schools and stores have closed. It got me thinking about what a snow day can tell you about your office, agency or company. It’s a good test that reveals a lot about how you are organized, your technology and your culture.
At my company, we regularly work across multiple client sites, at home, in our D.C. office and in multiple states—snow or no snow. Flexibility is one of our core values. So when a snow day hits, we just keep going. It’s not that different than any other day working from home except for the parents of young children whose schools are closed.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
ROCKVILLE AND BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, February 18, 2014 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. (CFLD) announced today that they have signed an agreement to jointly manage a newly created Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) position to be located at the BHI headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. This first-of-its-kind position will lead in the scouting of technologies and partnership opportunities in life science hubs in the U.S. and China.
“We’re very pleased to advance our partnership with BHI,” said Mr. Hu Zhen Yu, Vice President for CFLD, a company specializing in investment and operation of industrial areas in China, including science parks. “Our organizations first had a chance to connect in person when BHI’s CEO Rich Bendis traveled with a delegation from Montgomery County, Maryland, to China. Now, we look forward to filling this new EIR position, which will help to identify talented businesses and commercial prospects for our collaborative efforts.”
The new EIR will evaluate life science technologies in both China and the U.S. markets; provide a strategic plan for start-up companies; advise on opportunities for new ventures; and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. This would be BHI’s 5th EIR since the program’s inception two years ago.
Where’s the nation’s second largest concentration of academic, federal and private sector research spending? California? Massachusetts? According to the National Science Foundation, it’s Maryland, equating to billions of dollars in research investment in the Maryland economy. First place New Mexico has a relatively small rural population and presence of two major federal nuclear research labs.
But Maryland has something New Mexico doesn’t — proximity to Washington, D.C.
Washington is home to the nation’s government, but also the National Academies, technology trade associations, international corporations, embassies, media, regulatory agencies, foundations, and science agencies.
Bethesda Blues and Jazz – 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814
What’s next for Montgomery County? The potential for livable work, live and play environments on Metro abound. But what about the business community? What is it going to take to build an innovation economy? Is Montgomery County going to become the next tech hub?
Join us for a very special morning event featuring some of the brightest and most influential business and real estate leaders as they discuss some of the most dramatic decisions that this region will face in the upcoming year. Sign up now to join leaders of the Maryland business region for an important morning of discussion and networking!
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a Montgomery County, Maryland innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together among other things management, funding, and markets, is seeking an experienced life science professional with entrepreneurial experience to serve as its Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) financially supported by the China Fortune Land Development Company, LTD (CFLD), focused on advancing China-U.S. partnerships. The EIR will collaborate with a life science commercialization expert who has an interest in relocating to the Peptide Valley to assist CFLD in Chinese life science commercialization. BHI will work with the CFLD EIR on this recruitment as well as provide training to them. The EIR will lead in the scouting of technologies in both markets with a preliminary focus on therapeutic vaccines, antibodies, medical devices, proteins and peptides and diagnostics. Further, the EIR will build partnerships in life science hubs in the U.S. and China which support the progression of these technologies for manufacturing or at the preclinical testing stage of development, the primary focus of the Peptide Valley. This EIR will evaluate life science technologies in both markets, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets that have potential for Chinese commercialization in the Peptide Valley or other CFLD research parks.
A recent third-party economic development impact study conducted by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice (TPP), the world’s largest non-profit research and development organization, has found that the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) currently supports more than $565.9 million in economic contributions and more than 2,835 jobs in the State of Maryland annually, earning $200.5 million in salaries with estimated State and local government revenues of $22.8 million. The study also determined the economic contribution of TEDCO programs is projected to grow to $910.3 million and support a total of 4,527 jobs by 2018. These jobs will earn $320.3 million in salaries with estimated State and local government revenues of $36.6 million.
Bethesda-based Sucampo named former MedImmune president Peter Greenleaf to serve as the company’s chief executive starting next month, according to a news release.
The appointment brings a high-profile name to the biotechnology firm as it looks to commercialize products for glaucoma and constipation, as well as develop additional drugs to treat eye and digestive issues.
MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, announced it has entered into a three-year collaboration with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The collaboration will focus on CTSI’s Catalyst Awards program, which solicits applications from University scientists who wish to move their translational research beyond the bench and into product development.
This marks the first industrial partnership for CTSI’s Catalyst Awards program’s therapeutic track, which focuses specifically on discovery and development of patient treatment options. The collaboration will benefit both MedImmune’s biologics and AstraZeneca’s small molecule portfolios and will call for proposals in therapeutic areas of interest to MedImmune and AstraZeneca, including cardiovascular and metabolic disease; oncology; respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity; neuroscience and infectious disease.
Rockville-based MacroGenics Inc. plans to sell 2.5 million shares in a secondary offering, the bulk of which would go toward advancing the biotech’s oncology drug candidates through the clinic and expanding its manufacturing capacity.
Much like in MacroGenics’ October initial public offering, the chief purpose of this offering is to fund the pipeline, with 1.5 million shares offered by the company and another 1 million shares coming from selling shareholders.
Out of 260 applicants, 41 start-ups have advanced in the second annual InvestMaryland Challenge, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) announced today.
The early-stage business competition—with awards provided by DBED’s Maryland Venture Fund, the BioMaryland Center and other sponsors—seeks to grow entrepreneurship and innovation in the State.
QIAGEN N.V. QGEN +0.76% (frankfurt prime standard:QIA) today announced the launch plans of several novel products designed to significantly reduce the challenges of the most significant bottlenecks in next-generation sequencing (NGS): sample preparation and bioinformatics. The solutions will enable NGS users to generate more valuable insights from any sample. The new products add to QIAGEN’s rapidly expanding portfolio of ‘universal’ solutions designed to run with any NGS platform, including QIAGEN’s GeneReader™ platform, which is being prepared for launch in 2014. Several of QIAGEN’s new NGS products will be introduced to genomics researchers this week at the 15th annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting in Marco Island, Florida.
The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest technology trade association with more than 400 life science and technology members employing over 200,000 in the region, today announced that individuals from Hewlett-Packard Co., Johns Hopkins University, MedImmune, RCM&D and SoBran Inc. were named to the association’s board of directors.
“We are excited to have this impressive group of individuals on the TCM board,” said Phil Schiff, TCM’s CEO. “Their individual and collective expertise will be invaluable as the association evolves to address the changing needs of our membership.”
The DC regional Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program is now accepting university research teams from the DC, MD, and VA area for the 5-week Lean LaunchPad, technology commercialization and customer development workshop beginning March 24th. UMD is the lead institution running the NSF-funded program, and as such, teams from UMD will be given priority in this program. Interested teams can learn more and apply at http://www.dcicorps.org/. Feel free to contact info@dcicorps.org or (240) 319-9594 if you have any questions.
Looking beyond the small-molecule drugs and biologic treatments that have dominated therapeutic development over the past generation, GlaxoSmithKline’s ($GSK) all-encompassing R&D department is trying to get a jump on the future of medicine, and research chief Moncef Slaoui is betting that there’s a great deal of promise in drug-mimicking electronics.
By Suzanne Raheb, Corporate Supplier Diversity Leader, Lockheed Martin Corporation
Whether working as a subcontractor or a technology mentor, Lockheed Martin provides small businesses with various assistance during different phases of their SBIR/STTR projects. This includes supporting technology requirements, evaluation, co-development, and insertion into larger systems.
In 2008, Thierry Merquiol joined a crowdfunding effort to produce the first album of a little-known French singer named Grégoire. The investment paid off, Grégoire became a hit, and the experience inspired Merquiol to set up a similar crowdfunding platform for undiscovered companies. Nearly five years later, Merquiol and his business partner’s group, the Toulouse, France-based WiSeed, have helped finance 33 startup firms, including four in biotechnology. “Ours is democratization of equity funding,” said WiSeed associate Souleymane-Jean Galadima.
Illumina, Inc. today announced the launch of the Illumina Accelerator Program, the world’s first business accelerator focused solely on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry. Its goal is to speed the time to market and lower the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs, start-ups and early stage companies working on scientifically and commercially promising next-generation sequencing (NGS) applications.
Through the accelerator’s six-month program, Illumina will provide invited participants with technology and business guidance and $100,000 in support, including access to sequencing systems and reagents, as well as fully operational lab space in close proximity to the company’s planned R&D facilities in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. Initial partners include prominent technology investor Yuri Milner, who will offer each participating company $100,000 in exchange for convertible notes, and Silicon Valley Bank, which intends to provide banking services and credit to each participating company.
The pharmaceutical industry’s dependence on universities and small biotechs as the source of innovation is laid bare in an analysis of the origin of all the novel drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the three years from 2010 – 2012.
The analysis shows that 49 per cent of the products granted marketing authorisation during this time were originally discovered by the in-house efforts of pharma companies, with the remaining 51 per cent originating elsewhere. However, of the 94 products that received approval, 87 per cent were owned by pharma companies at the point the license was granted.
Through the Open Innovation Challenge, the American Heart Association hopes to get closer to its goal of improving Americans’ cardiovascular health by 20 percent by 2020.
The key to crowdfunding success? Pull at the heartstrings of your audience.
That’s what the New York City affiliate of the American Heart Association aims to do in its first-ever Open Innovation Challenge, a program that is part of the AHA’s Health Science Innovation and Investment Forum.
Based on an exhaustive search of Apple’s AppStore and the Google Play store in September 2013, MobiHealthNews found 205 apps that were “hospital-branded” and intended for use by consumers or patients. By that we mean simply that the hospital has put its name on these apps. For this special MobiHealthNews In-Depth we are publicly sharing for the first time the topline findings from our report. If you’d like to learn more about the history of mobile initiatives at US hospitals or would like access to the entire list of 205 hospital-branded apps for patients — head over to our research store to get your copy today.
One of IBM’s first app ecosystem partners for Watson, the health optimization company Welltok Inc., became the first firm to benefit from a $100 million venture fund IBM established to promote the use of its cognitive computing technology.
Welltok has raised $22.1 million in Series C funding led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) with new participation from IBM and Qualcomm Ventures. This brings Welltok’s funding in the last nine months to more than $40 million.
In a recent post at In the Pipeline, Derek Lowe answers a reader’s question about how best to promote drug discover in India. Given my research on the matter, I figured I would try and provide an answer as well.
In Scientific American’s Worldview, I have been ranking national biotechnology industries for the past five years. When I was recently in New Delhi I presented the Indian innovation figures and asked the audience to guess where they ranked. Much to their amazement, India was ranked with the bottom five of the 50+ countries assessed. The issues are myriad — poor patent protection, infrastructure problems, an insufficient quantity (not quality!) of skilled workers, etc.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Please join Rich Bendis on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 for the 7th Annual Health IT Day in Annapolis. Learn more about Health Information Technology (HIT) and how it affects you as a consumer today and in the future. Get the chance to meet with district legislators and senators to let them know what needs to be done to further push HIT in Maryland and keep us on the cutting edge of this rapidly evolving field.
The Portfolio Director is a senior licensing professional within the office of Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer (JHTT) who is responsible for managing a portfolio of invention. A Portfolio Director will manage a team of licensing professionals and provide scientific, intellectual property, licensing and marketing expertise, mentorship, team building for members working within the portfolio and across portfolios, educational outreach, relationship management, organizational and communication skills to commercialize inventions resulting from research at Johns Hopkins University. This position reports to the JHTT Executive Director.
Work closely with the CEO, as well as other members of Brace’s management team on developing and implementing scientific and corporate strategy;
With assistance from the management team, oversee and add value to the day-to-day efforts of Brace, especially business development activities, general business issues, marketing analyses, technology implementation, and other functions;
Identify investment opportunities which fit the strategy of Brace Pharmaceuticals;
Coordinate and perform due diligence of potential investment opportunities and execute the transactions;
Control and follow up the Brace investments to ensure that the agreed objectives are met and business is performed within the established guidelines;
Draft analyses for submission to CEO and Directors;
Prepare scientific and business presentation for the company;
Assist in the recruitment of staff, including assistants and managers;
Help maintain new strategic partnerships, scientific collaborations, and investor relationships;
Assist with technology licensing efforts and help Brace advance programs;
Act as a public relations person for Brace Pharmaceuticals, and represent Company in events and conferences;
Desired Skills and Experience
Minimum 10 years working with pharmaceutical industry.
Strong experience in evaluation, diligence and deal execution of pharmaceutical projects in development stage.
VC and Investment Banking experience.
Formation in medicine, chemistry, biologics or pharmaceuticals.
The incumbent will be responsible for commercializing inventions made as a result of the research conducted at UMBC. Specific duties includes: evaluating invention disclosures for patentability and commercial potential; making recommendations regarding the filing of patent applications; securing intellectual property protection by filing provisional applications and working with outside counsel to file and maintain utility for selected disclosures; marketing intellectual property to find companies interested in taking a license; negotiating license agreements and other technology commercialization activity; developing business plans and other commercialization strategies for UMBC inventions; advising faculty, students, and staff on intellectual property matters; educating faculty about the technology transfer process; working to ensure compliance with research agreements, federal guidelines, and other obligations that UMBC has with respect to inventions created as part of UMBC’s research enterprise; and performing other duties as assigned by the Director of OTD.
Minimum Qualifications
Requires a Bachelor’s degree in engineering or computer science and one year of experience in commercialization of physical/information science technology. Previous university-based experience in licensing or business development or similar experience in an industry, government or academic setting strongly desired. Working knowledge of federal and state laws regarding intellectual property and technology transfer process preferred.
Salary
Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Application
For best consideration, submit a cover letter with salary requirements, resume, and contact information for three professional references by February 24, 2014 (resumes will be accepted until filled) to Wendy Martin: wmartin@umbc.edu
The Director, AMS provides overall leadership, management, coordination and strategic direction for the ATCC Microbiology Systems business unit of ATCC. AMS is focused on the development of innovative products and reference standards for use in microbiological-based infectious disease research and industrial applications. As a member of the ATCC Senior Management Team the Director, AMS will also have a direct impact on the management of the ATCC organization. The incumbent is responsible for AMS on a P&L basis and will work cross-functionally within ATCC to ensure that business unit revenue goals are met. This position is also accountable for setting developmental program initiatives, creating external partnerships that facilitate ATCC as a go-to partner for biodeposit and standards development, and implementing programs to deliver on agreed objectives for the AMS business unit. The Director, AMS is responsible for the overall success of the product development process within the AMS business unit including the on-time, on-target and on-budget launch of new products. The incumbent actively supports, complies with and enforces all ATCC corporate policies and procedures.
The Vice President, Operations will provide leadership, direction and oversight to the manufacturing, inventory/repository and distribution of cultures and other biological products. This position will participate in ATCC’s strategic planning process. The Vice President oversees the management of the facilities, engineering, materials management, and planning operations. The Vice President ensures ATCC maintains robust and compliant Quality Assurance, Regulatory Compliance and Laboratory Testing Services operations. As a member of the Senior Management Team, this individual will participate in the annual strategic planning and budgeting processes, as well as regular management meetings. The incumbent actively supports, complies with and enforces all ATCC corporate policies and procedures.
For the first time, Montgomery College and industry giant Lockheed Martin join together to meet the nation’s growing demand for cyber security professionals. Register now to benefit from this exciting partnership where you will learn from the industry’s leading experts in secure software development.
Epidarex Capital, a leading international early-stage life science venture capital fund, has announced a £4 million Series A investment, in Edinburgh Molecular Imaging (EMI). Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, also participated in the round. EMI, an Edinburgh BioQuarter spin-out company from the University of Edinburgh, is developing a pioneering Optical Molecular Imaging (OMI) technology with the potential to address unmet needs in the diagnosis and monitoring of several major diseases.
EMI’s highly innovative OMI technology revolves around the development of fluorescent imaging reagents that detect harmful processes deep inside the human body, at the bedside, in real time and at molecular resolution. The company’s initial focus is on lung conditions but the technology is applicable to a wide spectrum of disease. The company’s approach has the potential to transform clinicians’ ability to diagnose and manage a number of serious respiratory conditions, including lung cancer, fibrosis, lung infections and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). EMI’s technology will address the pressing need for tests which can rapidly provide diagnostic certainty and reduce healthcare costs. Respiratory diseases kill one in five people in the UK and cost the NHS over £6 billion per year, with lung cancer being the biggest cancer killer.
Mobile technology is transforming the way patients and doctors interact.
That was the message conveyed by a panel of speakers at a Health IT Forum hosted at Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus.
The Health IT Forum series, held four times a year, is a community partnership co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, the TechCouncil of Maryland and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. The January forum, titled “Patient Tools for Better Health,” attracted approximately 50 health IT experts from the region.
New Enterprise Associates has stepped up to help with a $14 million A round designed to get Austin, TX-based startup Lumos Pharmaceuticals in the clinic with a new therapy for an autism spectrum disorder characterized by severe cognitive impairment. Sante Ventures negotiated the original term sheet for Lumos and NEA joined the financing later.
Lumos has been working with a subsidiary of the NIH on LUM-001, an analogue of creatine that was studied by investigators at the University of Cincinnati. The “repurposed” molecule has been shown in animal studies to cross the blood-brain barrier, offering the potential to restore levels of creatine in the brain, which is eliminated by a defect in the transporter gene found in people who suffer from a range of cognitive disorders, including autism.
On Tuesday, Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Health Administration announced that they will collaborate to research and develop best practices for various health care fields, EHR Intelligence reports (Freeman, EHR Intelligence, 2/4).
The partnership is part of the VA’s Innovation Partnership Program.
Bethesda Blues and Jazz – 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814
What’s next for Montgomery County? The potential for livable work, live and play environments on Metro abound. But what about the business community? What is it going to take to build an innovation economy? Is Montgomery County going to become the next tech hub?
Join us for a very special morning event featuring some of the brightest and most influential business and real estate leaders as they discuss some of the most dramatic decisions that this region will face in the upcoming year. Sign up now to join leaders of the Maryland business region for an important morning of discussion and networking!
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a Montgomery County, Maryland innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together among other things management, funding, and markets, is seeking an experienced life science professional with entrepreneurial experience to serve as its Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) financially supported by the China Fortune Land Development Company, LTD (CFLD), focused on advancing China-U.S. partnerships. The EIR will collaborate with a life science commercialization expert who has an interest in relocating to the Peptide Valley to assist CFLD in Chinese life science commercialization. BHI will work with the CFLD EIR on this recruitment as well as provide training to them. The EIR will lead in the scouting of technologies in both markets with a preliminary focus on therapeutic vaccines, antibodies, medical devices, proteins and peptides and diagnostics. Further, the EIR will build partnerships in life science hubs in the U.S. and China which support the progression of these technologies for manufacturing or at the preclinical testing stage of development, the primary focus of the Peptide Valley. This EIR will evaluate life science technologies in both markets, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets that have potential for Chinese commercialization in the Peptide Valley or other CFLD research parks.
Ten big rival drug companies have formed a pact to cooperate on a government-backed effort to accelerate the discovery of new drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The companies and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will share scientists, tissue and blood samples, and data, to identify targets for new drugs for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, the Journal said.
TechConnect is pleased to host 2014 TechConnect World, June 15-19 in Washington DC. The event, co-located with the 2014 National Innovation Summit the 2014 National Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Conference, delivers the world’s largest showcase and accelerator for industry-vetted emerging-technologies ready for commercialization.
Don’t miss this opportunity to place your technology, your company, or your agency’s awardee portfolio into the TechConnect Innovation Showcase and Accelerator program to be matched with the world’s largest gathering of potential investment and corporate partners.
HHS is committed to implementing all the provisions of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-81). NIH has set up a website to keep the small business research community abreast of its implementation plan for the many changes resulting from the reauthorization. The site will be updated as the implementation process moves forward.
This issuance implements an additional provision of the Reauthorization Act.
It’s nearly Valentine’s Day. And for humans, love is in the air. But it’s a good time to examine how love is in the air for crabs, too, and how their mating affects a Maryland industry.
For blue crabs, it’s all about the pheromones in the water. And for female crabs looking for mates, size really does matter.
An untraceable currency called Zerocoin is being designed by Johns Hopkins University researchers to compete with other virtual moneys such as Bitcoin. The researchers say that if virtual currencies are going to exist, there should be one that provides the same kind of privacy that people have when exchanging traditional forms of money.
Inside a drab computer lab at Johns Hopkins University, a team of researchers is trying to build something that has never existed before: a digital currency that changes hands completely in secret. Its name is Zerocoin.
Ozarks Medical Center in Missouri and Flagstaff Medical Center in Arizona are just two hospitals in 25 states across the country that will receive federal funding for telemedicine projects. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced nearly $16 million in USDA grants would be disbursed for distant learning and telemedicine services.
The USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant program provides funding to rural hospitals, clinics, schools and libraries for equipment and technical assistance for telemedicine and distance learning. Grant recipients must demonstrate that they serve rural America, prove there is an economic need and provide at least 15 percent in matching funds.
Frustrated by unpredictable and often political funding for science research, a handful of young researchers think they’ve found the answer: crowdfunding.
Jackson Solway Experiment.com Co-founder and CEO Cindy Wu The researchers–who have backgrounds in synthetic biology, rocket science and other disciplines–built much of their startup, Experiment.com, while at the Y Combinator accelerator in 2013.
“Our goal is absolutely to democratize knowledge,” says Denny Luan. “Modern science has such a rush for fast results – publish or perish, output over process. We’d like to show the greater public that science does not have to be locked up behind monasterial walls. We’d like to change the way science is shared – in an engaging, deliberately beautiful way. Real-time, open-access and with great design.”
Luan is co-founder of what, until this morning, was known as “Microryza” – the site has been renamed “Experiment” as part of a revamped branding strategy – a potentially revolutionary crowdfunding platform that is looking to do for science what Kickstarter has done for the entertainment industry.
As part of an ongoing effort to empower patients to be informed partners with their health care providers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken action to give patients or a person designated by the patient a means of direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.
“The right to access personal health information is a cornerstone of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Information like lab results can empower patients to track their health progress, make decisions with their health care professionals, and adhere to important treatment plans.”
Four years ago Congress created a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation as part of its Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Innovation Center’s purpose was “to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce program expenditures… while preserving or enhancing quality of care.” Congress has allotted $10 billion to support the Innovation Center for its first ten years of existence and additional rounds of billions for subsequent decades. The Center has long been considered one of the most important initiatives for changing broken payment models in healthcare.
Today the CMS Innovation Center categorizes its work into several key categories, including accountable care, bundled payments for care improvement, primary care transformation, initiatives focused on the Medicaid and CHIP population, and initiatives focused on Medicare-Medicaid enrollees. The remaining two areas of focus for the center are “initiatives to speed the adoption of best practices” and “initiatives to accelerate the development and testing of new payment and service delivery models.”
Independence Blue Cross today announced it has created the Independence Blue Cross (IBC) Center for Health Care Innovation, an important milestone in the company’s groundbreaking efforts to transform the Philadelphia area into a national magnet for health care innovation. At the 5,000-square foot center at 1700 Market Street in Philadelphia, the company’s associates and external partners will innovate, collaborate, and implement path-finding new concepts in health care. The center will also be the home for the company’s widening range of innovation initiatives, including its partnership with Penn Medicine and DreamIt Ventures on the region’s first health care accelerator, DreamIt Health Philadelphia, which last year brought ten promising health care startups from across the country to Philadelphia and today eight are still located in the region.
“Through the IBC Center for Health Care Innovation, we are championing health care entrepreneurism in our region, and acting as a catalyst for innovations that lead to superior care at lower costs,” said Independence Blue Cross President and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty. “With our region’s active investment community, experienced health care talent, world class health care systems, and strong academic institutions, we have all the ingredients to become the Silicon Valley of health care innovation.”
The Salk Institute’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for managing the intellectual property of the Salk Institute.
At the OTD, our mission is to enable our researchers to realize the commercial potential of their ideas. Our goal is to develop and support relationships with industry partners who can help turn scientific progress in the lab into tangible products for the benefit of patients and society at large, while returning income to the inventor and to the Institute to support further research.
One of the old saws in journalism is to “follow the money” when you’re looking for a story. But sometimes you learn even more by following the people.
The people, in this case, are biotech venture capitalists. Regular readers of this column know that biotech VC has been going through a historic shakeout the last few years. The institutional investors who back VCs have gotten fed up with the long investment timelines, high degree of risk, and limp returns from this group of well-compensated asset managers. Not surprisingly, many VC firms have been unable to continue to raise new funds, and have turned into zombies.
A high sugar diet greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease regardless of body weight, according to a new study by the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, which is the biggest one of its kind to date and has included more than 10,000 people followed for up to 14.6 years, concludes that people who drink, for example, one soft drink per day increase their risk of cardiovascular disease by one-third.
Malcolm Gladwell opened his healthcare talk with a joke. Confessing that he is expert in neither healthcare nor interoperability, the long-time journalist revealed that he had actually pondered how his former self would cover his present self as a speaker — likely with “quotes out of context and something really snarky.”
The best-selling author and New Yorker staffer likened the change required for healthcare to make it over the interoperability hurdle to several events of this generation, “three lessons in culture, framing and consequence,” as he put it during Health Care Innovation Day.
Every month in the Startup Index, we publish a list of the startup stories that got the most attention. Scroll down to the end of the report to find this list. There is usually a common thread among the companies in the list – geography, focus, industry sector. This month the list is all over the place:
Three of the University of Pennsylvania’s health-related research centers have teamed up to launch an innovative grant program designed to lure academic investigators out of their insular comfort zones into large scale interdisciplinary research projects.
The three—Penn’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB), Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) and Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI)—are offering a novel funding structure they hope will pull together researchers from a variety of disciplines to focus on “big ideas” related to improving the health of populations.
It’s no big secret that the vast majority of venture capitalists are men. But that vastness is even a bit larger than I had expected.
Following yesterday’s news that Jennifer Fonstad and Theresia Gouw were stepping down as partners with DFJ and Accel Partners, respectively, in order to launch their own firm, we decided to begin researching exactly how many partner-level female VCs there really were.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a Montgomery County, Maryland innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together among other things management, funding, and markets, is seeking an experienced life science professional with entrepreneurial experience to serve as its Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) financially supported by the China Fortune Land Development Company, LTD (CFLD), focused on advancing China-U.S. partnerships. The EIR will collaborate with a life science commercialization expert who has an interest in relocating to the Peptide Valley to assist CFLD in Chinese life science commercialization. BHI will work with the CFLD EIR on this recruitment as well as provide training to them. The EIR will lead in the scouting of technologies in both markets with a preliminary focus on therapeutic vaccines, antibodies, medical devices, proteins and peptides and diagnostics. Further, the EIR will build partnerships in life science hubs in the U.S. and China which support the progression of these technologies for manufacturing or at the preclinical testing stage of development, the primary focus of the Peptide Valley. This EIR will evaluate life science technologies in both markets, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets that have potential for Chinese commercialization in the Peptide Valley or other CFLD research parks.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today the closing of its previously announced offering of 2.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933. Emergent issued $250 million aggregate principal amount of its notes, which includes the additional $35 million principal amount of notes purchased by the initial purchasers under the exercise of the option granted to them by the company.
Emergent intends to use a majority of the net proceeds from the offering to finance the acquisition of Cangene Corporation, announced in December 2013. The company intends to use any remaining net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include repaying outstanding indebtedness under its existing credit facility.
Please join Rich Bendis on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 for the 7th Annual Health IT Day in Annapolis. Learn more about Health Information Technology (HIT) and how it affects you as a consumer today and in the future. Get the chance to meet with district legislators and senators to let them know what needs to be done to further push HIT in Maryland and keep us on the cutting edge of this rapidly evolving field.
The venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline joined investors in ZappRx, a prescription app, in a second instance recently of big pharma putting cash into a mobile health firm.
ZappRx announced it had closed a $1 million round from backers led by current investor Atlas Venture but also including GSK-backed SR One.
The round follows $1 million invested by Atlas Venture in September 2013.
Getting specialty medications can be a big hassle. Dozens of pages of forms are required. Patients rely on call centers to find out the status of their prescriptions, and can go days wondering exactly when the next refill is coming. What if you could handle it all, instead, with just a few clicks on a smartphone app?
That’s the kind of thing ZappRx, a recently-formed startup out of Cambridge, MA, is trying to do.
Commentary by Dr. Wallace D. Loh, President, University of Maryland
Maryland’s economic success relies on its staggering concentration of scientific talent, superb education, highly competitive businesses and enlightened government. When they all mesh, the state’s economy outpaces the competition.
This has earned Maryland a designation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the No. 1 entrepreneurial state and a No. 2 ranking by the National Science Foundation for the economic impact of its concentrated research activities.
Noble Life Sciences (Gaithersburg, MD), in collaboration with IBT Bioservices (Gaithersburg, MD), announces a newly optimized cotton rat model for preclinical studies of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) therapies and vaccines. The companies jointly developed the model of RSV infection in the cotton rat and demonstrated its use to evaluate the efficacy of test compounds in RSV challenge studies.
Cotton rats are the gold standard for preclinical development of drugs and vaccines for RSV. The cotton rat gained importance for RSV studies because the permissiveness of cotton rats to infection with human RSV surpasses that of mice by more than 100-fold and because the model replicates several characteristic features of the human disease. Moreover, the predictive quality of the model is so high that treatments for severe disease advanced to clinical trials based on the results of efficacy and safety studies using cotton rats without the need for testing in primates.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Commonwealth Fund have concluded that electronic health record systems and other digital tools are likely to curb the demand for physicians in the future.
Based on their analysis of recent trends in digital health care and a review of the scientific literature, the authors conclude that patients’ future use of physician services will change dramatically as electronic health records and consumer e-health “apps” proliferate. The findings appear in the issue of the journal Health Affairs.
Baltimore is known for being home to companies such as Under Armour Inc. (NYSE:UA) and McCormick & Co. (NYSE:MKC) and, of course, HBO’s “The Wire.” But a new survey suggests Baltimore also is a destination for high-salaried technology workers.
Baltimore in 2013 had the second-highest average salary for employees in the technology sector, according to jobs database Dice.com. The 2013 average salary for tech workers was $97,588 — a 0.3 percent decrease from the year before.
GlaxoSmithKline is set to unveil plans to launch late-stage clinical trials on 10 new drugs over the next two years, the Telegraph reported, without citing sources.
The new drugs, which have not been detailed to investors, will include cancer and respiratory disease medicines, the newspaper said on its website.
The 2014 SBIR and STTR Omnibus Grant Solicitation of the NIH is now live and the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) budget for the program is increasing. Funding from the NCI Small Business Innovation Research & Small Business Tech Transfer (SBIR & STTR) Programs can help you advance your technology towards commercialization and can also help spark investor interest in your business.
The next application due date is April 5, 2014. We encourage you to start preparing your application and are happy to provide feedback on your project. If you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity, please email the NCI SBIR program director listed in your relevant technology area. Also be sure to check that all of your required registrations are complete. It’s never too early to start the registration process.
The statistics surrounding startup success are pretty daunting — in fact, of the 500,000+ businesses owners that launched companies in 2012, only a handful will ever achieve a fraction of the notoriety of famed CEOs like Zuckerberg, Dorsey or Karp.
When launching a startup, there are countless decisions to consider: number of founders, sources of funding, location and target market, to name a few.
This infographic takes a look at the statistics surrounding startups and examines how many of them actually manage to get off the ground.
What’s next for Montgomery County? The potential for livable work, live and play environments on Metro abound. But what about the business community? What is it going to take to build an innovation economy? Is Montgomery County going to become the next tech hub?
Join us for a very special morning event featuring some of the brightest and most influential business and real estate leaders as they discuss some of the most dramatic decisions that this region will face in the upcoming year. Panelists include County Executive Isiah Leggett, Steve Silverman, and BHI’s Rich Bendis. Sign up now to join leaders of the Maryland business region for an important morning of discussion and networking!
Johns Hopkins Medicine is joining with a company in Saudi Arabia to form a health care company.
The Baltimore medical institution said it and Saudi Aramco, an energy and chemical company with a health care arm, will open the Johns Hopkins Saudi Aramco Healthcare Company Feb. 1.
ROCK SPRING VENTURES,A LEADING EARLY-STAGE LIFE SCIENCE VENTURE CAPITAL FUND, IS NOW EPIDAREX CAPITAL
Our new name is inspired by Epidaurus, the home of ancient Greece’s first hospital and the temple of the Greek God of Medicine. It reflects our focus on innovation in the healthcare sector and our commitment to investing in young life science and health technology companies. Visit www.epidarex.com.
STAY TUNED FOR A NUMBER OF EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE COMING YEAR…
I was in Washington D.C. today at the State of the Net conference, listening to conversations about internet governance, Bitcoin, broadband metrics and privacy. And despite the fact that this an event about technology I’ve never felt so out of place.
It’s not just because everyone around me is wearing a suit. Here a few differences between political conferences and tech conferences; some of which are humorous, but others that are worth learning from.
The Mid-Atlantic area is full of outstanding leaders and innovative companies, but only a chosen few will receive a coveted TCM Industry Award. Our winners develop technologies that save lives, keep the country safe, and consistently perform beyond expectations. Play a part in helping us choose our next class of winners! Nominate now!
The nominations process is easier than ever this year. We will be accepting nominations in 7 categories from any company or individual that has done business in the Mid-Atlantic region during 2013, and you don’t have to be a TCM member to submit.
There are 7 prestigious award categories including:
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Information/Chief Technology Officer of the Year
Emerging Company of the Year
Executive of the Year
Government Contracting Firm of the Year
Life Science Firm of the Year
Technology Firm of the Year
Visit our secure online site to nominate a firm or individual. It only takes a few minutes! The deadline to submit is Friday, February 28, 2014.
Remember, talking about a great leader or remarkable company won’t make a difference, but nominating them will! Nominate now!
The effort to focus the post O’Malley era in Maryland on developing private sector businesses and jobs got a big boost Friday from the unprecedented joint agenda of House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. It’s encouraging that the two top leaders in the General Assembly are both focused on the issue at the same time that most of the candidates for governor next year are talking about the same thing and private sector advocacy groups like the Greater Baltimore Committee are pursuing similar efforts. But what is more intriguing is the nature of the ideas Messrs. Busch and Miller are putting forward.
Too often, the debate about whether Maryland is business friendly goes no farther than a glance at the Tax Foundation’s reports on the state and local tax structure, as if the only choices are a Maryland heavily oriented toward government or one that radically slashes taxes and regulation. The truth is that there are other models for success, and the one that best suits Maryland’s strengths is a strategy that leverages our great advantages in intellectual capital to produce jobs in high-tech fields like biotechnology and cyber security. The Miller/Busch proposal recognizes that through tax credits to attract superstars from the private sector to academia, build the cyber security industry and encourage business formation in the areas directly surrounding institutions like Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.
We are finally hosting the FLC’s National Meeting (Federal Laboratory Consortium) here in Montgomery County! This program gives our local companies easy access to federal labs from across the country. As part of a triple opportunity, the FLC is helping to sponsor the Post Doc Conference (April 24) – and MEDA (Maryland Economic Development Association) has chosen tech transfer as their theme for this year’s Annual Conference (April 27-29). Three great programs all within one week!
We really want to spread the word about our area’s terrific connectivity with the federal labs, and would appreciate your assistance. Attached is the flyer, the program is posted on the DED calendar, and you can access more information about the agenda and registration at www.federallabs.org. Note: The biggest opportunity for our companies is on April 23rd which is Industry Day – so a one-day registration may work well for some businesses.
In a little more than two months, about 1,000 people will flock to Cole Field House, but the occasion won’t have anything to do with basketball.
From April 4 to 6, this university’s first-ever Major League Hacking-sanctioned hackathon will take place in the form of a 36-hour marathon competition called Bitcamp.
Event director Shariq Hashme said he expects anywhere from 750 to 1,250 participants from more than 100 universities, with more than 100 of those participants hailing from this university.
Please join us for the 7th Annual Health Information Technology (HIT) Day of advocacy in Annapolis. Our agenda is focused on ‘HIT in Action! Consumer Engagement’ where we will showcase the perspectives of consumers using HIT today as well as their future hopes, concerns, and the value derived from accessing one’s health information as the healthcare industry transforms.
Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) is the latest Big Pharma company that has vowed to open its clinical trial data vaults to the public. Going a step further than previous efforts, it’s enlisting the help of Yale University to manage data requests.
Under an agreement with the Yale School of Medicine, the school’s Open Data Access (YODA) Project will serve as an independent body to oversee requests from investigators and physicians looking to access anonymized clinical trial data from J&J’s Janssen. YODA, not J&J, will review each request and make final decisions on data sharing. Members of the YODA team will select and appoint an independent external panel of non-Janssen experts to help in some cases to assess requests.
People can argue all day about whether Illumina has, at last, given us the $1,000 genome. The answer does matter, because the cheaper it gets to sequence a whole human genome, the easier it will be to gather lots of them. That will help us understand what makes people different, and shed light on what causes disease. Or so scientists hope.
It’s heady stuff. But that’s the not the biggest story at Illumina right now.
Six startup companies have been selected to participate in AccelerateBaltimore’s 2014 program.
The accelerator program is run by the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) and the Abell Foundation. Each company receives $25,000 in seed funding, office space and mentorship resources. The program runs for 13 weeks.
On a recent press tour of New Jersey I was introduced to PTC Therapeutics, a fascinating company that is developing ribosomal readthrough drugs for several indications.
What I find so interesting about this company and their technology is that it is a sort of magic bullet. Drugs that can modulate ribosomal activity can potentially treat hundreds of diseases (indeed, PTC told me that they are looking at thousands of diseases).
Primary care physicians’ adoption of electronic health records increased significantly between 2009 and 2012, but there continues to be a “digital divide” between large and small physician practices, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, FierceHealthIT reports.
Study Findings
The study found that EHR adoption by primary care physicians increased from 46% in 2009 to 69% in 2012 (Hall, FierceHealthIT, 1/26).
Using tiny biodegradable particles to disrupt the body’s normal immune response after a heart attack could help save patients from tissue damage and certain long-term health problems that often follow. Researchers have shown that injecting such particles into mice within 24 hours of a heart attack not only significantly reduces tissue damage, but also results in those mice having stronger cardiac function 30 days later. The inventors of the new technology now plan to pursue human trials.
Much of the tissue damage that results from a heart attack is the result of inflammation, the body’s natural response to harmful stimuli such as damaged muscle. But in the case of a heart attack, these immune cells do more harm than good, explains Daniel Getts, inventor of the new therapy and chief scientific officer of Cour Pharmaceutical Development. The system’s weaponry is “fairly generic,” he says. While the toxic compounds that the immune cells secrete can be beneficial in defending the body against an infection, they also cause tissue damage. This phenomenon occurs not only after heart attacks, but also in a range of other diseases, including West Nile Virus, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis.
The head of a state-funded business accelerator on Monday said Kansas will soon be recognized worldwide as a place to bring bioscience businesses.
“Our mission is for Kansas to become a global destination for bioscience. That is closer to a reality today than many realize,” said Duane Cantrell, chief executive officer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
Directing a child to set up a diagnostic test is one way to illustrate the ease of using a device. That’s the approach Biomeme took for its pitch on crowdfunding website AngeList. Biomeme co-founder Max Perelman’s cute-as-a-button 7-year-old daughter takes on the role of lab assistant.
The DreamIt Health Philadelphia graduate developed a test kit to identify the DNA or RNA signature of bacteria and viruses through blood, urine or saliva samples. The company raised about $1 million in a mix of debt and options, according to a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and received $400,000 from the Philadelphia area division of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the economic investment arm for Pennsylvania.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
It should come as no surprise that the University of Maryland has once again received an honorable accolade for its commitment to innovation. The College Park school has been dubbed the top most underrated public school for tech entrepreneurship by StartEngine, the state of Maryland has been named the top state for innovation and entrepreneurship, proving that UMD is chock full of talented individuals, and now UMD has been recognized with a national award for excellence in entrepreneurship education.
Announced Thursday, the United States Association for Small Business Entrepreneurship chose the UMD Entrepreneurship Innovation Program as the first place winner for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Award in the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program category.
The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) has selected the University of Maryland Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP) as the first-place winner for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education award in the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program category, university officials announced today.
A joint initiative of the The Honors College and A. James Clark School of Engineering’s Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), EIP is a two-year, living-learning program for freshman and sophomore honors students that fosters an entrepreneurial spirit, creates a sense of community and cooperation, and develops ethical and innovative leaders.
Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels explains how the institution is pushing harder to commercialize research and build resources for startups in Baltimore.
Kauffman FastTrac® has just joined with Montgomery College to support future and current business owners before, during, and after the startup process. Entrepreneurs will receive the information, resources, and networks necessary to start and grow successful businesses.
A Baltimore company’s medical device that aims to reduce dialysis treatment complications was among two winners of an inaugural bioscience challenge.
Baltimore-based Hemova Medical and Arizona-based MyFuelUp were the winning companies Jan. 24 in the BioAccel Solutions Challenge in Phoenix, a contest that first identified four unmet medical needs before seeking out startups that could help solve the problem. MyFuelUp is an app that provides healthy meal plans.
Johns Hopkins University will share in a $20 million award from GE and the National Football League to improve diagnosis and treatment for concussions, which has become a major focus as more is learned about the lasting effects of mild traumatic brain injury.
The grants aim to benefit professional football players, who have been seeking compensation for their injuries and means to reduce problems. The grants also will benefit the community as a whole, officials said. Each grant recipient will receive $300,000.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today the pricing of its offering of $215 million aggregate principal amount of 2.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 (the “Notes”) in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), which was upsized from the previously announced $200 million offering. Emergent also granted the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $35 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes.
Emergent intends to use a majority of the net proceeds from the offering to finance the acquisition of Cangene Corporation, announced in December 2013. The company intends to use any remaining net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.
The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), whose mission is to bolster technology transfer (T2) among federal labs, agencies, and academic institutions, will hold it’s 2014 National Meeting in Rockville, Maryland from April 21 – 23, 2014 at the North Bethesda Marriott Hotel.
Included among the hundreds expected in attendance are, federal and industry technology transfer (T2) professionals, patent attorneys, licensing professionals, and scientists, along with other members of the FLC community. In sticking with the mission of the FLC and striving to simultaneously meet the needs of our nation’s progressive industry, this year’s FLC National Meeting is centered on the theme of accelerating innovation for economic impact.
National health organizations are constantly updating the treatment guidelines doctors are expected to follow. These guidelines come to hospitals and doctors daily and must be manually added to the hospital’s electronic record-keeping system. It’s drudgery, and at one time was the domain of Noah Weiner while working at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
That work led him to ask a question that has sparked many an entrepreneurial venture: “There must be a better way to do this.”
The NIH is the premier biomedical research center for the world. Its 27 Institutes and Centers employ approximately 18,000 employees doing a vast array of jobs, all supporting efforts for a healthy nation.
The Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC) in the Division of Extramural Research Activities (DERA), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is seeking outstanding candidates for the Health Scientist Administrator (Business Development Specialist) position. The OTAC is charged with accelerating the translation of basic discoveries and innovations into new diagnostics, devices, and therapeutics, and facilitating the development of new technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiatives. The Office facilitates identification of emerging areas of translational opportunities and provides functional integration by developing interdependent teams that leverage resources and intellect across the NHLBI, and with other NIH Institutes, agencies, and organizations. The OTAC enhances communication and coordination between existing programs, develops and coordinates strategic initiatives and Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), and identifies and capitalizes on synergies to meet and enhance program goals.
When I say in Cambridge, I’m speaking figuratively about Medimmune; Babraham, Melbourn and Granta Park could be described as “Cambridge, but in pretty countryside without the traffic problems”. That aside, the story told at the Cambridge Network meeting today was one of our regions great successes. We were privileged to have an insight provided by Jon Green, VP Business Operations, Medimmune and and Dr Paul Varley, VP Science and Collaborations, Biopharmaceutical Development.
It all started with CAT, Cambridge Antibody Technology, back in the 90s. The company was founded on the development of an antibody technology.
In 2011, the executives of Savi Technology faced a classic business problem. To cut costs, they needed to close one of their three offices and consolidate their workers in another. Their choices were Mountain View, Calif., home to their hardware engineers; Lexington, Ky., where officials were dangling a wide array of tax breaks if Savi expanded there; and Alexandria, in an office park a stone’s throw from the Capital Beltway.
The company’s engineers warned executives that they would have trouble finding enough similarly skilled employees outside Silicon Valley, especially in the Washington area. The executives decided to ditch California anyway and move their headquarters to Virginia.
Biotech firm Illumina sent shockwaves through the biotech industry this week by unveiling a new machine that can sequence a full human genome for $1,000. Until Illumina came along, genome sequencing cost approximately $5,000, which is out of range for many patients.
A new MRSA test that helps you detect recently emerged strains has earned the Food and Drug Administration’s market approval, says manufacturer BD Diagnostics.
The BD MAX MRSA XT Assay is the company’s second test that can detect MRSA strains with the mecC gene, but the first that can do so via a nasal swab. The earlier version, released in 2013, could be used only on patients about to undergo surgery.
Millennial Media Inc. founder Paul Palmieri has stepped down as chairman and CEO of the publicly traded Baltimore mobile advertising firm, effective immediately.
He will join venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates as a venture adviser focused on technology out of its Chevy Chase office.
Investing in activities that support the creation and expansion of high-growth companies and jobs is at the forefront of technology-based economic development (TBED). TBED fosters a climate where new and existing companies that develop technology and continuously innovate will thrive. Understanding the trends that are affecting and influencing TBED can help guide investment priorities for practitioners and policymakers across the nation.
A slow yet stable national economic recovery gave rise to many new initiatives across states and regions with a shift toward targeted and refined investments in the high-tech economy for quicker returns – a continued trend from 2012.
Threat and opportunities are two sides of the same coin here. While cancer is one of the biggest threats the healthcare sector is witnessing today, it has also thrown open a number of investment opportunities.
Cancer detection and treatment focused companies attracted almost $17 million from VC ( venture capital) investors during 2013. Norwest led the charge, which deployed $11 million in the cancer-focused medical devices maker Perfint Healthcare and $4 million in cancer-focused diagnostics chain Nueclear Healthcare. Cancer-focused drug development firm Invictus Oncology attracted $1.9 million from Aarin Capital and Navam Capital.
Earlier this month, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a trade association representing the U.S. venture capital industry, released the results of its MoneyTree Report on venture funding for 2013. The report, which is prepared by NVCA and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP using data from Thomson Reuters, indicates that venture capitalists invested $29.4 billion in 3,995 deals in 2013, which constituted a 7% increase in dollars and a 4% increase in deals over the prior year (see chart below, which shows total venture funding from 2004 to 2013; data from MoneyTree Reports).
Srinagar: Jammu Kashmir Innovators Forum (JKIF) is making a device that would measure glucose from the skin without taking any blood sample.
Jammu & Kashmir Innovators Forum, sole Forum from the state, which works for inventions, researches and innovations Saturday announced that it is testing a prototype of a device that would help the people with diabetes to manage this disease.
I am clearly on a digital health kick, blog-wise, as I look back on my last few posts. Having spent time at both CES and the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, where digital health was a hot topic, it seems that the subsector is definitely having its day in the sun. I was particularly honored to be named among the 2013 “Top 50 in Digital Health” by a group comprised of Rock Health, Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley Bank, and Fenwick & West. There are some pretty smart people on the list with me and it is very gratifying to be in such great company (nice article about the list by Wade Roush at Xconomy can be read HERE).
On the other hand, I was feeling a little inadequate being on the list without my own digital health start-up to show for it. I mean, hey, there I am among the actual innovators who dreamed up such cool companies as MC10, Evolent, Pokitdok, Athena Health, and a host of others with only my investment checkbook and blog to show for it. Given that it is the year of the wearables, as anyone who went to CES could readily attest, and that the entrepreneurs in that sector were well represented in the Top 50 list (FitBit’s James Park, Misfit Wearables’ Sonny Vu, etc), I have decided to throw my own hat (wrist?) in the ring on this sector.
If you have a sneaking suspicion that your passwords are bad, we have some upsetting news: They probably are.
Luckily, SplashData is here to help you change your lazy ways with its annual list of the worst online passwords.
I mean, we wear computers on our faces now. Using “password” as your password just seems out of place in a world where you can wear computers on your face, doesn’t it? We should know better by now. Looking at SplashData’s findings, it’s pretty incredible to learn that many of us don’t.
The data is in, and there is no question that 2013 was the most active year for biotechnology initial public offerings since 2000. During the 12 months ended in December, 38 biotech companies debuted on Wall Street, all but two of which were listed on the Nasdaq exchange, according to FactSet, a Norwalk, Conn.-based provider of financial analytics. The performance of the biotech class of 2013 was rather impressive: As a group, the shares of the newly public companies rose 43% through the end of the year.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has found two leaders from within the agency to spearhead technology and operations in Medicare and Medicaid, naming David Nelson CIO and Tim Love COO.
The two long-time CMS staffers, both former members of the military, replace two other long-time agency leaders and are overseeing the most significant health coverage and regulatory expansions in the agency’s history.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a Montgomery County, Maryland innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together among other things management, funding, and markets, is seeking an experienced life science professional with entrepreneurial experience to serve as its Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) financially supported by the China Fortune Land Development Company, LTD (CFLD), focused on advancing China-U.S. partnerships. The EIR will collaborate with a life science commercialization expert who has an interest in relocating to the Peptide Valley to assist CFLD in Chinese life science commercialization. BHI will work with the CFLD EIR on this recruitment as well as provide training to them. The EIR will lead in the scouting of technologies in both markets with a preliminary focus on therapeutic vaccines, antibodies, medical devices, proteins and peptides and diagnostics. Further, the EIR will build partnerships in life science hubs in the U.S. and China which support the progression of these technologies for manufacturing or at the preclinical testing stage of development, the primary focus of the Peptide Valley. This EIR will evaluate life science technologies in both markets, provide a strategic plan for start-up companies, advise on opportunities for new ventures, and lead the commercial strategy for mature assets. The EIR will oversee primary and secondary research and will provide strategic recommendations and insights on the direction of potential assets that have potential for Chinese commercialization in the Peptide Valley or other CFLD research parks.
Each year, Speakers Platform recognizes five speakers within ten popular topic areas. Excellence in speaking is based on: expertise, professionalism, client testimonials, presentation skills and original contribution to the field. The only substantive requirement is that the candidates’ standard keynote presentation fee be under $30,000USD. Once the nominees are chosen, online voters determine the final Top5 honorees. Women secured more honoree slots this year than any year in the past – almost sweeping some categories such as “Communication / Diversity”. Job well done!
Over 12,000 votes were received at Speaking.com for the initial 165 nominees- from business leaders, educators, association members and others from around the world. Many voters praised the nominees for having a profoundly positive impact on their lives; a living testament to the far reach and valuable work of all the nominees. Please join us in congratulating your 2014 honorees!
Richard Bendis was listed in the top 5 in the Innovation / Creativity category. Thanks to all those who voted and helped spread the word! —Ed.
DreamIt Ventures‘ Baltimore accelerator is adding another prestigious partner to its ranks: Kaiser Permanente will join the organization’s leadership team, alongside Johns Hopkins University, Northrop Grumman Corporation and BioHealth Innovation.
“We look forward to working with these very promising new healthcare technology companies where we can provide access to industry leading health professionals and a real world laboratory to test the usability and effectiveness of next generation technology solutions” Kim Horn, president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., said in a statement.
Underwriters have snapped up another 1 million shares of GlycoMimetics Inc. stock, the Gaithersburg biotech announced this week, marking the close of its $64.4 million initial public offering.
GLYC debuted on the Nasdaq last week in the Washington region’s first IPO of 2014, selling a total 8 million shares at $8 apiece. Net proceeds to the company will be around $57.4 million, much of which will pay expenses to advance one of its oncology drug candidates through the clinic.
First there was a blizzard of new drug deals. Now comes the forecast for sunnier financial weather ahead.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot arrived at JPMorgan with a message: The pharma giant ($AZN) has beefed up its late-stage pipeline and is now ready to prove it can start to grow again in the near future as it pushes through one of the industry’s most radical R&D reorganizations. As of today, AstraZeneca counts 11 drugs in late stages of development–just about double what Soriot inherited when he was named CEO a year ago–with another 27 coming up behind it. And it’s mapped out a combo strategy for immunotherapies designed to get the company in the race to gain approvals and start growing oncology revenue.
Johns Hopkins University’s board of trustees has voted to renew the contract of President Ronald J. Daniels, keeping him at the helm of the nation’s first research university for another five years. The unanimous board action today signaled a strong and clear endorsement for Daniels, who has been instrumental in leading and advancing the mission of the university.
The reappointment, announced by board chairman Jeffrey H. Aronson, extends Daniels’ contract to 2019.
A gleaming, state-of-the-art, wonder-what’s-going-on-in-there mansion smack in the middle of a rundown Baltimore neighborhood. Hopkins has always been involved in Baltimore to some extent. The university and the health system employ roughly 50,000 people in the Baltimore area, making them the two largest employers here. Their construction projects inject millions into the local economy. But Hopkins’ reputation is as a world-renowned medical research giant
Venture capitalists more than doubled their investment in companies based Baltimore- and Washington, D.C.-area companies in 2013.
Venture firms invested more than $1.5 billion in the region in 2013, making that the biggest year for investment since 2001, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Maryland companies took in 43 percent of that investment money.
New data show that local venture-capital deals have come roaring back after the economic downturn.
Investors pumped $1.54 billion into Washington area companies last year, the largest sum in more than a decade. The figures suggest that venture capitalists may be more bullish on the state of the economy and are loosening their purse strings as a result.
DreamIt Health, a relative newcomer to the digital health incubator scene, has proven itself no slouch at recruiting big name provider partners. It launched its first Philadelphia-based class with the support of Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine and brought on Johns Hopkins for its second class, based in Baltimore, last fall. Now the incubator is adding provider and payor Kaiser Permanente as an additional strategic partner. Northrop Grumman will also support the class.
As in last year’s program, companies will have access to a working space, up to $50,000 per team for living expenses, and access to a range of professional and legal services in exchange for an 8 percent stake in the company. That’s in addition to DreamIt’s signature offerings: one-on-one mentorship and introductions to local and national payors and providers.
Gov. Martin O’Malley on Wednesday unwrapped his eighth and final budget, a $39 billion plan that increases spending on tax credits for cyber security, biotechnology and research and development while holding the line on taxes.
For fiscal 2015, O’Malley has proposed hiking the biotech and life sciences tax credit by 20 percent, to $12 million. He wants to increase the cyber tax credit by 33 percent, to $4 million and raise the credit for research and development by 12.5 percent, to $9 million.
For more than a dozen Maryland technology startups, dreams of expansion and development are becoming a reality with the help of awards from the state-sponsored Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).
TEDCO announced on Tuesday that 13 startups received total funding of $1.3 million, $100,000 each, between July 2013 and January 2014, through the organization’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The companies range from i-Lighting, an InvestMaryland Challenge winner and lighting system innovator, to Graftworx, a high-tech medical device developer.
The 8th Annual Postdoc Conference and Career Fair is April 24, 2013 at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center. The event draws and average of 500 postdoctoral fellows from federal and university laboratories who are finishing their fellowships in the STEM fields and are seeking professional employment. The conference portion of the event runs concurrently with the career fair, and focuses on such topics as preparing for an interview and exploring non-traditional careers. The conference is organized by a symposium of government, private, educational and economic development organizations. Company registration for the career fair portion is now open and starts at $500.
Shark Tank is a one-of-a-kind event where industry experts pose stimulating questions to CBID MSE student teams about their medtech projects. A mid-year design project showcase and reception will follow the challenging throw down.
A Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) and I-Corps presentation, “Linking Innovative Technology with University System of Maryland Resources,” with Mr. Joe Naft, Director, MIPS will take place on Thursday, February 6, 11:15 am – 12:30 pm in Wyle Building 1 North conference room, 22309 Exploration Dr., Lexington Park, MD 20653. This program, sponsored by The Patuxent Partnership, is free and open to the public. Check-in begins at 11:00 am; attendees are welcome to bring their lunch.
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute’s (Mtech) MIPS program accelerates the commercialization of technology in Maryland by jointly funding collaborative R&D projects between companies and the faculty of Maryland’s public universities. With more than 500 Maryland companies participating in project awards since 1987, MIPS-supported products have generated over $25.2 billion in sales, added jobs to the region, and infused state-of-the-art technology into the global marketplace. To be sponsored by MIPS, projects must show strong potential for commercialization and economic impact. These projects cover the gamut of state-of-the-art technologies in fields such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, clean energy, robotics, information technology and all types of engineering.
Five Baltimore companies are among the startups that will be the first through a new health IT accelerator in the city.
A total of nine companies from around the world were selected for DreamIt Health Baltimore’s inaugural program, which officially begins Jan. 20. The accelerator program lasts four months and includes seed funding, mentorship from veteran entrepreneurs, workspace and other resources to help participants’ businesses take off. It is designed help startup companies power through early problems and prepare for the market.
Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.
Researchers and physicians at The Johns Hopkins University will collaborate with Belgian nanoelectronics research center imec to advance silicon applications in health care, beginning with development of a point-of-care device to enable a broad range of clinical tests to be performed outside the laboratory. The collaboration, announced today, will combine the Johns Hopkins clinical and research expertise with imec’s technical capabilities. The two organizations plan to forge strategic ties with additional collaborators across the value chain in the health care and technology sectors.
“Johns Hopkins has always prioritized innovative and transformative research opportunities,” said Landon King, M.D., the David Marine Professor of Medicine and executive vice dean of the school of medicine. “Our new collaboration with imec is such an opportunity, and we very much look forward to leveraging our respective strengths across the university in biomedical and nanotechnology research to improve patient diagnosis and care throughout the world.”
American innovation, badly damaged last year by federal budget tightening and the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, appears to be getting partial relief with the bipartisan budget deals struck last month and Monday night. The progress is praiseworthy, but it will not counteract the decades-long decline in federal funding for research and development that is so essential to our economic future and critical to accelerating treatments for today’s major health care challenges, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
It’s rare for me to hear a panel discussion on digital health and not hear the same conversation repeated and reiterated over and over again. In a discussion between health IT company CEOs at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, some of the most interesting points raised were the ones the healthcare industry is struggling with the most. Of course, there were a lot of sound bites too. Here are five of the most interesting digital health insights.
If you control the capital, you control the data and if you control the data, you control the product. This is a sound bite, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Providers’ relationship with their digital health companies revolves around this balance. Digital health companies are using their technology to help providers deliver better patient care. But investors have an impact in shaping business model. With the shift to outcomes-based care, data generated by digital health tools will become even more critical to care delivery.
Thinking about Big Pharma’s relationship with the biotech industry last week at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco reminded me of an old physical education teacher I had in 7th grade.
This guy was feared for his patented “pinch.” He would grab misbehaving teenage boys by the clavicle, and squeeze so hard that his thumb and index finger almost completely wrapped around the bone. He would then drag the pimply, 100-pound punk to his office for a scolding.
From wearable technologies that track back posture, blood pressure and brain waves to connected cars and homes, the 152,000 attendees at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show were treated to some of the most innovative wireless technologies global innovation has to offer. So dazzling and ubiquitous were the wireless innovations not just on display –but in use– that the event easily could have been rebranded as the Consumer Mobile Show.
While many gadgets offer great fun, many more actually save lives. I was honored to lead a conversation on the coming wave of mobile innovation in digital health through next generation wireless sensors which we are implanting inside our bodies called “The Internet of You.” Panelists Dr. Fran Kauffman, the Chief Medical Officer of Medtronic Diabetes and Dr. Christian Holz, a Research Scientist in the mobile innovation group at Yahoo! Labs brilliantly described the progress being made in this next powerful frontier of mobile innovation.
The approaching March deadline for individuals to enroll in a health insurance plan is a useful reminder that provisions of Obamacare will continue to roll out this year. The Affordable Care Act and related legislation are putting a huge demand on the health system, from accelerating the shift to electronic medical records to creating a need for more efficient communication tools between physician offices, patients and insurers. A handful of industry insiders offers a glimpse of the kind of targets that will shift into focus in 2014 and the groups that will be looking to buy them.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Happy New Year! Thanks to two recent, major life sciences announcements spotlighted in Site Selection magazine, Montgomery County shows that our biotech sector is well-poised for accelerated growth in 2014!
The December 2013 Site Selection web exclusive features details on the attraction of Brazilian-based Brace Pharmaceuticals’ new U.S. headquarters to the County’s Rockville Innovation Center and its plans to invest $200 million. Brace is focused on the late stage clinical development of pharmaceutical products with the potential for near-term commercialization.
Kauffman FastTrac® has just joined with Montgomery College to support future and current business owners before, during, and after the startup process. Entrepreneurs will receive the information, resources, and networks necessary to start and grow successful businesses.
Last Sept. 22, the chief executive of a startup called CoFoundersLab Inc., Shahab Kaviani, sat up at the moment the clock chimed midnight, ready to tweet.
At that time, a ban on what’s known as “general solicitation” was officially lifted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which meant startups like his could tell the general public, and not just accredited investors, that they were raising money.
Entrepreneur Office Hours for University of Maryland Students, Faculty and Staff, and Regional Entrepreneurs with Tech-Based Startups or Ideas
Get answers now from experienced entrepreneurs and legal/business professionals on how to build a successful startup company. Receive free and impartial advice, brainstorm business strategies, investigate funding opportunities and learn about the vast resources available to entrepreneurs.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 2014
PLACE: Room 1103, Technology Advancement Program building (directions)
AstraZeneca today announced that Granta Park-based MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, has entered into a cancer research collaboration and licensing agreement with Immunocore, an Oxford biotech company.
The approach will be to use the power of the body’s own immune system to find and kill diseased cells, avoiding damage to healthy cells.
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in synthetic biology, announced today that it has entered into a research and development collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and its affiliate Johnson & Johnson Consumer & Personal Products Worldwide, a division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., to advance new skin and hair care products.
“We look forward to advancing new skin and hair beauty products that have measurable impact for consumers,” said Randal J. Kirk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Intrexon. “By combining Intrexon’s synthetic biology approaches with the capabilities at Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Johnson & Johnson Consumer & Personal Products Worldwide, we believe that there are multiple areas for new product exploration.”
Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced today that it has entered into agreements with leading institutional investors for a registered direct placement (the “Offering”) of 6,752,744 shares of common stock at a price of $2.91 per share, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $19.65 million.
In addition, the Company will issue to each investor a warrant to purchase a number of shares of common stock equal to one-half of the number of shares purchased by the investor in the Offering. The warrants have an exercise price of $3.64 per share, and are exercisable from the issuance date, for a period of five years.
Elliott Sigal has opened the next chapter of his career. The former R&D chief at Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), who helped squire a number of blockbuster programs through the clinic, is joining David Mott as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates.
Bristol-Myers’ R&D group had its setbacks, particularly in 2012, but during Sigal’s tenure at the top of the research arm he guided an amazing 14 drugs to an approval, including Abilify, Erbitux and Onglyza. Those were all part of Bristol-Myers’ “string of pearls,” which earned the company a rep as one of the leaders in innovation in the field. Few other R&D chiefs–including a number who had much larger budgets to work with–even came close.
GlaxoSmithKline plc [LSE/NYSE: GSK ] announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Mekinist® (trametinib) for use in combination with Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma (melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery) or metastatic melanoma (melanoma which has spread to other parts of the body) with BRAF V600E or V600K mutations. These mutations must be detected by an FDA-approved test.1 Tafinlar is not indicated for treatment of patients with wild-type BRAF melanoma.2
The approval of the combination is based on the demonstration of response rate and median duration of response in a Phase I/II study. Improvement in disease-related symptoms or overall survival has not been demonstrated for Mekinist in combination with Tafinlar.1 The combination was approved through the FDA’s Accelerated Approval programme and reviewed under a Priority Review designation.3 This accelerated approval is contingent on the results of the ongoing Phase III trial (referred to as MEK115306 or Combi-D), which is designed to evaluate the clinical benefit of the combination in this patient population.
The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest technology trade association, released its 2014 Policy Platform, which outlines the organization’s specific priorities in the areas of advanced technology, life sciences, taxation, transportation, higher education and workforce development. TCM’s advocacy efforts during the 2014 session of the Maryland General Assembly, which begins January 8, will focus on further improving the business climate to encourage technology and biotechnology companies to grow and flourish in the state.
Specifically, TCM’s 2014 Policy Platform urges policymakers to increase funding for innovation incentives, such as the Research and Development Tax Credit, the Biotech Tax Credit and the Stem Cell Research Fund, and reject onerous changes to the tax structure, such as combined reporting, to provide more certainty for the technology and life sciences business communities. In addition, TCM would like to see implementation of continued long-term funding and policy solutions for development of Maryland’s transportation infrastructure, higher education institutions and next-generation workforce.
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, announced today that it has acquired Alverix, Inc., a privately-held diagnostic instrument company known for its optoelectronics expertise. Since 2008, BD and Alverix have collaborated in the point-of-care diagnostic market with the design and development of the BD Veritor™ System, which has been very well received in hospitals, laboratories, physician offices and clinics.
“Point-of-care testing is increasingly an integral part of patient healthcare in both developed and developing countries and BD is committed to expanding in this space,” said William A. Kozy, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, BD. “This acquisition enables BD to continue to strengthen and grow our point-of-care testing position.”
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center will receive $90 million in new funding as part of a $540 million gift from Ludwig Cancer Research to six institutions, the school announced Monday.
The gift is among the largest for a single private gift to cancer research, according to the school. The five other Ludwig Centers to share in the current award are Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago.
The growing popularity of cyber security is leading the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s research and development park to look into expanding its CyberHive incubator.
The new space would be an additional 3,500 to 3,600-square feet and would cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000.
WellDoc®, developers of the first FDA cleared mobile prescription therapy, BlueStarTM, announced today that it received funding from its first institutional investors, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Windham Venture Partners, as part of a $20M round of financing that now broadens its capitalization beyond its initial group of angel investors. For a limited time, WellDoc and its investors will also explore the possibility of adding co-investors that bring strategic value to the company.
“Our new investors share WellDoc’s vision of fundamentally changing how people manage their chronic diseases to improve outcomes and reduce costs,” said Ryan Sysko, co-founder and CEO of WellDoc. “This investment will help WellDoc launch and commercialize BlueStar, the world’s first Mobile Prescription Therapy for type 2 diabetes, on a nationwide basis.”
MIMETAS and Galapagos will collaborate to develop miniaturized 3D cell culture models that mimic specific aspects of human diseases. These models will be applied to the identification and improvement of novel compounds. Dr. Richard Janssen, Senior Director of Target Discovery at Galapagos, states: “The MIMETAS platform is the first to combine organ-on-a-chip technology with our high throughput screening of primary human cells. As we see it, OrganoPlates™ make 3D culture as straightforward as traditional cell culture.”
Dr. Jos Joore, MIMETAS’ CBO underscores this notion: “This agreement is a crucial step forward for MIMETAS and for the organ-on-a-chip field in general. Galapagos sets an example as one of the first drug discovery companies worldwide to implement innovative organ-on-a-chip technologies. This collaboration helps us to further validate our technology, by enabling development of unique novel compounds with unique human disease models.”
Nationally, startups seeking venture capital at an early stage saw another great year in 2013 with an abundance of active seed investments being made. And according to data released by CB Insights last week, of the seed investors making deals with young companies in 2013, three D.C.-based VCs were some of the most active. Among the likes of West Coast seed powerhouses 500 Startups and Andreessen Horowitz, Washington-area CIT GAP Funds, New Enterprise Associates and Fortify.vc were ranked in the top 60 venture capital funds for most active nationally.
Six months into its fiscal year, the Maryland Technology Development Corp. has received almost as many applications from state startups looking for funding as it got in all of the previous year.
As a result of the spike in demand, Tedco is asking the Maryland General Assembly for what Tedco President Robert Rosenbaum called “a substantial increase” in funding for fiscal 2015. The General Assembly convened for its annual session in Annapolis on Jan. 8.
Kaiser Permanente will put its longtime IT expertise to work in building a clinical data network aimed at improving patient outcomes in cancer, heart disease and obesity.
Funded with a $7 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the network is one of 29 projects approved for a total of $93.5 million to form PCORnet: the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, which seeks to improve the efficiency of health research.
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest: NIH Guide Notices:
Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.
Biomātrica®, Inc., a world leader in ambient temperature biological stabilization technologies, and ATCC, the premier global biological materials resource and standards organization, today announce the completion of a licensing agreement. According to the agreement terms, Biomātrica will supply ATCC with DNAstable® and RNAstable® reagents for the stabilization of DNA and RNA standards.
ATCC is featuring specific cell-based solutions for screening at SLAS2014, the 3rd Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening. Meeting attendees visiting ATCC at booth #1348 will find helpful information on hTERT immortalized cell lines, human stem cells, cancer cell panels, and reagents that are particularly suited for screening and drug discovery research. ATCC, the premier global biological materials resource and standards organization, maintains the largest collection of cells lines characterized and authenticated for use by the research community.
Cell-based screening programs, especially when automated, require a stable supply of cells for extended studies. To aid in this endeavor, ATCC currently maintains over 20 human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) immortalized cell lines of different types, including epithelial cells derived from various human tissues. These cell lines represent a breakthrough in cell biology research that combines the in vivo characteristics of primary cells with the ability to survive continuously in vitro.
A JOLT of caffeine can boost memory, according to a study that provides a scientific motive for students slurping coffee, tea or energy drinks when cramming for exams.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, found that caffeine enhances certain memories for at least a day after they were formed.
Evidence for caffeine as a memory booster has been anecdotal until now.
Our community relies on the current crop of PhD researchers to develop the insights, theories and tools to shape the future of innovation management thinking and action. The ISPIM Innovation Management Dissertation Award, sponsored by John Wiley & Sons and Innovation Leaders will reward this endeavour. Authors of the best three PhD dissertations that are completed in 2013 will be able to attend the ISPIM 2014 Conference in Dublin for free. Additionally, the winner will receive a prize of EUR 4000, and the runners-up EUR 2000 each, courtesy of Innovation Leaders, John Wiley and Sons and ISPIM.
One way pharma giant Johnson and Johnson stays ahead of the competition is via its network of Innovation Centers where researchers are working on new approaches to cardiovascular issues, infectious diseases, neuroscience, and more.
The centers are located in San Francisco, Boston, London, and Shanghai – and this week the company announced that Israel was joining the family, in the form of an incubator J&J will be opening in Rehovot, near the Weizmann Institute. Working together with several other partners, the company said, the new incubator “is the latest in a series of recently announced collaborations to fuel entrepreneurship in the world’s scientific hot spots.”
SAVE THE DATE: DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 Kickoff Weekend: January 17th and 18th, 2014 Baltimore, MD
DreamIt Health Baltimore – powered by The Johns Hopkins University, BioHealth Innovation, and Northrop Grumman – is ramping up for the Winter 2014 accelerator class in Baltimore, MD and we want to make sure the kickoff events are on your calendar. More information below.
DreamIt Health Baltimore Kickoff Reception: January 17, 2013 On the evening of Friday, January 17th, 2014 DreamIt Ventures and our partners are hosting a kickoff party to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies and other members of the Baltimore entrepreneurial community. Location is TBD and the event will begin around 5:30/6:00pm eastern time. We will be sending formal invitations to the event in the near future but wanted to get this on your calendar now. Please ink us in!
The kickoff reception will include light snacks and beverages, in addition to networking and your first opportunity to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies.
Sponsored by:
Kickoff Weekend Working Session: Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 9:00am – 5:00pm (INVITE ONLY) We are in the process of identifying potential mentors for the companies as well as pairing them up with their law firm & accounting firm partners. Members of this community should please save the date for our working session that Saturday with the companies. We’ll send out a detailed RSVP for the event soon.
If you have any questions about either of these events or the DreamIt Health Baltimore program please contact Dana Rygwelski (dana@dreamitventures.com).
Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman has appointed a Brooklyn Park woman to a job she used to hold herself: director of the county’s tech incubator.
Neuman announced the hiring Thursday of Laura Willoughby to run the Chesapeake Innovation Center in Annapolis.
The International CES expo in Las Vegas, which kicks off Tuesday, has long been the site of new technology announcements and gadget demonstrations. This year, about 55 Washington area companies plan to exhibit at the show, up slightly from last year’s 53.
The group represents one of the most diverse that the region has sent to Las Vegas, said Jeff Joseph, senior vice president for communications with the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the show.
The healthcare industry will continue to command the spotlight in 2014, and healthcare executive search consultants from Witt/Kieffer have some advice for making 2014 a stellar year on the work front, including a recommendation to broaden the role of the CIO.
The recommendations:
Prepare for unplanned CEO turnover – Paul Bohne, managing partner, says, “Technological advancements, physician alignment, market consolidation and government policy changes have all increased the complexities of how large, diverse healthcare organizations operate.” These mounting responsibilities have exacerbated the turnover issue.
New survey data result in an upward revision of the previously published 2011 U.S. research and development performance total and imply a sizable further expansion in 2012. These new data puts U.S. R&D expenditures at $428.2 billion in 2011,[2] an increase of $20.5 billion over the 2010 level ( table 1, figure 1 ). The preliminary estimate of the 2012 U.S. total for R&D is $452.6 billion.
As we go into the last few weeks of the year, my office is busy working up the final numbers on application data for this year. Although the complete set of application data, tables, and graphs will not be available until later in January, I thought I would provide an early snapshot on success rates for 2013 competing research project grant (RPG) applications and awards.
We received 49,581 competing RPG applications at NIH in fiscal year 2013, slightly declining compared to last year (51,313 applications in FY2012).
A 15-minute commute from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., might be a possibility after all.
The Greater Baltimore Committee in 2012 supported a plan to use maglev trains to produce the next generation of high-speed rail in the Northeast corridor.
But the love affair eventually faded and talk of maglev trains coming to the Baltimore area waned. But the Japanese government is promising to lend the United States half the cost of building the first “Super-Maglev” train. The high-speed train would reduce the 37-mile commute between Baltimore and D.C. from one hour to a blazing-fast 15 minutes
From President George W. Bush’s embrace of healthcare IT to the opening of HealthCare.gov, hard work, government incentives, political battles and more have made for broad and rapid changes in healthcare in the past 10 years.
Who are the entrepreneurs pushing hardest for technology advances that will connect patients with better healthcare? They’re people like Sean Duffy, who’s using the Web to help people make behavioral changes that could head off Type 2 diabetes at his startup Omada Health, and Joanne Rohde, whose company Axial Exchange is building systems that help patients stay in touch with their doctors before and after office visits.
That’s according to Rock Health, the San Francisco-based accelerator and seed fund for Health IT entrepreneurs, which named its 2013 “Top 50 in Digital Health” honorees at a downtown ceremony last night. The event helped to kick off the week-long J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and was co-hosted by Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley Bank, and Fenwick & West.
After vanquishing humans on Jeopardy!, IBM says its Watson computer is ready to help save human lives. The company on Thursday announced it has created a new business unit specifically to advance Watson and deliver its artificially intelligent wisdom to research organizations, medical institutions and businesses so that they can process “big data” for detailed answers to complex questions. They won’t actually own a Watson computer—instead its services will rendered via a network connection (the “cloud computing” model).
IBM doesn’t launch new business units every day—or even every decade—chief executive Ginni Rometty noted during the Watson Group announcement. Indeed, the company is making a calculated bet—to the tune of more than $1 billion—on cognitive computing and the role it will play in making big data useful.
The National SBIR Conference and the 3rd annual National Innovation Summit and Showcase will be held in parallel with the 17th annual TechConnect World Conference, at the Gaylord Convention Center, June 15-19, 2014.
National SBIR Conference
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer programs are highly competitive, encouraging small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) work with potential for commercialization.
National Innovation Summit
In support of the White House and Congressional call for innovation commercialization initiatives, the National Innovation Summit and Showcase delivers the world’s largest showcase of industry-vetted emerging-technologies ready for commercialization. Don’t miss as TechConnect presents the Nation’s top innovations emerging from our federal technology funding programs. All showcasing innovations are vetted by our industry and investment review committees, and all will participate the TechConnect Corporate Acceleration and Matchmaking Programs with our participating Corporate and Investment Partners.
Intellectual property featured prominently in 2013’s public discourse. Gene patents, patent trolls, India’s anti-patent actions, and other developments around the world captured headlines. Here are Patently Biotech’s top blog posts written in 2013 by number of views.
Who knew elephant sharks held potential answers for health problems such as osteoporosis and poor immune systems?
An international team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany discovered new insights into human health by sequencing the elephant-shark genome.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
ROCKVILLE AND BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, January 6, 2014 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and MIMETAS announced today that Todd Chappell, MBA, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for BHI, has been named General Manager, U.S. Affairs for MIMETAS. A Netherlands-based company, MIMETAS is establishing its offices within BHI’s headquarters in Rockville. MIMETAS and BHI created a U.S. subsidiary of MIMETAS to access the clinical, regulatory and scientific resources available in Central Maryland and to access the U.S. marketplace, the largest life sciences market in the world.
“We’re very pleased to add Todd to the MIMETAS team,” said Jos Joore, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer of MIMETAS. “Todd couples a vast experience in business creation with a profound understanding of biology and disease mechanisms. Most importantly, Todd shares our sense of urgency around enabling better medical treatment by using more predictive cell culture models.”
Previously, Mr. Chappell was the Vice President of Operations for Shape Pharmaceuticals, a portfolio company of HealthCare Ventures, LLC, where he oversaw all day-to-day operations involved in the development of a novel HDAC inhibitor for Cutaneous-T-Cell-Lymphoma. Prior to that, he was at CombinatoRx Inc. for eight years and served as Director of New Products. Mr. Chappell will be combining his role at MIMETAS with his existing EIR position at BHI.
The Montgomery County, MD Department of Economic Development (DED) has invested $75,000 in Brain Sentry, makers of Brain Sentry Impact Sensors™, innovative helmet-mounted devices that alert when an athlete suffers a rapid – and potentially dangerous – acceleration of the head. These sensors, which the company began to produce four months ago, are now being utilized by football, ice hockey and lacrosse teams to help identify players who need to be evaluated for concussion.
The $75,000 Montgomery County DED’s investment (conditional grant) is part of a successful $1,000,000 capital raise for Brain Sentry, with additional funds coming from New York Angels, New Dominion Angels, Hull Street Capital and other private investors. According to the Montgomery County DED the typical amount of assistance – in grant or loan – is $5,000 to $100,000. Priority is given to “high technology companies” and “manufacturing companies” and Brain Sentry fits the bill on both counts. Brain Sentry also meets a third DED criterion as a “private employer providing public benefits.”
University of Maryland Ventures (UM Ventures) announced today that Dr. Martha J. Connolly has been named director of bioentrepreneurship, a new program supported by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) and the A. James Clark School of Engineering, designed to enhance collaboration between the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as part of the MPowering the State initiative.
“UM Ventures creates an integrated innovation ecosystem that includes entrepreneurial support resources,” said James Hughes, Chief Economic Development Officer and Vice President at UMB. “Experts like Martha help turn novel ideas into sustainable businesses, and I’m pleased to have her as part of our enterprise.”
As leaders of Montgomery County life science companies, we have a stake in whether local students like science. If they do, they are more likely to work for companies such as ours. If they don’t, our pipeline of future workers gets slimmer. So we have taken special note of a science education gap in our region that we believe will have a long-term impact on our minority students, our communities and our businesses.
Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University are among six institutions sharing a $540 million grant for cancer research from funds established by late real estate magnate Daniel K. Ludwig.
Each center will receive $90 million in new grants from the fund established in 2006, bringing the total bequest to each institution to $150 million, said Ed McDermott, president and chief executive officer of New York-based Ludwig Cancer Research, in a press conference. Other centers getting money are Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Happy New Year! This week’s Top of the List is from our first-ever List of “Largest incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces in Maryland,” ranked by current number of members or tenants.
The National Cancer Institute opened NCI Shady Grove next door to the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus buildings. Employees started arriving in late December 2012, two years after the September 2010 groundbreaking ceremony. The move was completed in Spring 2013. Approximately 2,400 NCI employees work at NCI Shady Grove. Coinciding with the arrival of the NCI employees, six new retail shops opened along the parking garage: Shady Grove Cleaners, Freshii, Subway, West Wing Café & Bakery, Blue Fin and Natural Market.
Meanwhile, 11 new companies decided to locate their businesses on campus. These entrepreneurs and researchers focus on health care research and information technology.
With billions to be made on the back of ill health and notable scandals and cover-ups in its history, it’s fair to say that many see the public face of the pharmaceutical industry as a mask for darker machinations. We rely on the drugs for myriad conditions, but do we trust big pharma?
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is no stranger to accusations of unethical drug marketing tactics. But recent news coverage has included its support for the AllTrials campaign – which calls for clinical trials to be registered and results to be published – and a package of other initiatives, including a new commitment to end direct payments to doctors (and other key opinion leaders – KOLs) that have been one of the industry’s most powerful marketing tools.
SAVE THE DATE: DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 Kickoff Weekend: January 17th and 18th, 2014 Baltimore, MD
DreamIt Health Baltimore – powered by The Johns Hopkins University, BioHealth Innovation, and Northrop Grumman – is ramping up for the Winter 2014 accelerator class in Baltimore, MD and we want to make sure the kickoff events are on your calendar. More information below.
DreamIt Health Baltimore Kickoff Reception: January 17, 2013 On the evening of Friday, January 17th, 2014 DreamIt Ventures and our partners are hosting a kickoff party to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies and other members of the Baltimore entrepreneurial community. Location is TBD and the event will begin around 5:30/6:00pm eastern time. We will be sending formal invitations to the event in the near future but wanted to get this on your calendar now. Please ink us in!
The kickoff reception will include light snacks and beverages, in addition to networking and your first opportunity to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies.
Sponsored by:
Kickoff Weekend Working Session: Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 9:00am – 5:00pm (INVITE ONLY) We are in the process of identifying potential mentors for the companies as well as pairing them up with their law firm & accounting firm partners. Members of this community should please save the date for our working session that Saturday with the companies. We’ll send out a detailed RSVP for the event soon.
If you have any questions about either of these events or the DreamIt Health Baltimore program please contact Dana Rygwelski (dana@dreamitventures.com).
William E. Hanna, Jr. Innovation Center at Shady Grove
PRESENTER:
Courtney Silverthorn, Ph.D.
Partnership Alliance Manager
Federick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
ABSTRACT:
The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) operated under contract to the National Cancer Institute. As a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated facility, both the opportunities for partnering with outside entities and the mechanisms by which partnerships are formed can be different from Government-Operated facilities. Specific mechanisms and opportunities will be highlighted.
Biography:
Dr. Courtney Silverthorn is the Partnership Alliance Manager at the Federick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, the FFRDC operated by Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. on behalf of the National Cancer Institute, where she is responsible for coordinating the formation and execution of partnering activities, and managing research services offered under Technical Service Agreements. She currently serves as the Regional Coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Federal Laboratory Consortium. Dr. Silverthorn holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Sweet Briar College.
The disease detectives at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named the top five global health threats they expect to tackle in 2014:
1. The emergence and spread of new microbes
While it’s rare, CDC scientists do come across new diseases each year. In 2013, the new Heartland virus carried by ticks was confirmed in northwest Missouri. Federal health investigators collected samples in the state after two farmers from St. Joseph were sickened by the virus that carried a novel genetic profile.
Most people know what marketing executives do every day. They try to catch people’s attention through email, ads, tweets, and press releases. As for data scientists, well, their work is not nearly as well understood.
That’s been slowly changing this year as companies slowly loosen up about letting their hard-won data scientists talk about their work.
By Rock Health’s count, 302 investment firms and “notable angels” put money into a digital health startup in 2013. Twenty-seven of them did it three or more times.
That’s a big jump from the eight who did three or more deals in 2012. An influx of digital health exits, final guidance from the FDA on mobile apps, more good opportunities or any number of other factors may have led investors to pony up capital for more of these companies last year.
Ask any investor what they think about Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) , and you’ll probably hear that it’s a diversified pharma company, a blue-chip stock that pays a hefty dividend, and it’s a relatively safe investment for investors looking for exposure to the health-care sector. But you might also hear investors criticize its size. With a market cap of almost $260 billion, Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest companies in the U.S., and it edges out both Merck and Pfizer as the largest pharma company in the Dow. Can a company this massive be nimble and entrepreneurial enough to innovate? Is its size holding back its long-term potential to bring new products to market?
2013 has been another banner year in seed financing for U.S. tech startups. In aggregate, 2013 saw $893 million invested across 843 seed VC deals. In fact, 2013 saw the highest amount of seed VC deals since 2009. Seed VC deal activity in 2013 jumped 11% from 2012 levels and a whopping 173% from 2010 as the number of active seed venture investors continued to stay strong. By way of definition, seed venture capital rounds included in this brief are early stage investments (typically less than $1.5 million) that specifically include the participation of a venture capital and/or corporate venture capital investor (angel rounds were excluded from this analysis).
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Richard Bendis will be a speaker at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference which takes place from March 8-17 in Austin, Texas. SXSW is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals which occur every year in March. Mr. Bendis will be speaking on March 9th at a session titled “Entrepreneurs in Residence: Not Just for VCs.” In his presentation, Richard will introduce the BioHealth Innovation, Inc. EIR program and speak about some of the commercialization challenges being addressed creatively by the biohealth community in Maryland.
BHI Also Announces Agreement With BD to Create Entrepreneur-in-Residence Position
Rick Ivey, BD Diagnostics
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) today announced the fiscal year 2013-2014 election of officers and a new appointment to its Board of Directors. BHI also announced it has entered into an agreement with BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) to establish an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Technology Transfer. In conjunction with this agreement, BD is entitled to a voting position on the BHI Board of Directors, which will be held by Richard M. “Rick” Ivey, Worldwide Vice President Research & Development, BD Diagnostics – Diagnostic Systems.
“I am pleased to welcome the new roster of officers and a new member to the BHI Board of Directors,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “The officers are a committed group of individuals who already have contributed to the steady growth of BHI, and will continue to be important leaders as the organization further develops.”
“Rick Ivey joins the Board on behalf of BD as part of the terms of an agreement between BHI and BD to establish an NIH EIR position,” added Mr. Bendis. “He represents an important new addition to our Board as he is a seasoned medical technology executive who can offer experience and insights to the growing cadre of start-up diagnostics companies in the State of Maryland.”
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, June 4, 2013 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, is proud to announce the publication of the Central Maryland BioHealth Entrepreneur’s Resource and Finance Guide 2013. The Guide was developed by BHI, the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore and the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, in collaboration with the Baltimore Business Journal.
The Guide serves as a compendium of resources to biohealth innovators and entrepreneurs working to start and grow new companies and technologies in the region. This essential entrepreneurial resource includes a compilation of information on financial resources, university facilities and programs, economic development programs, and existing federal laboratory facilities and programs, as well as how to work with these assets. The Guide is one of the many projects BHI is developing to successfully transform the regional environment for biohealth startups through harnessing Central Maryland’s biohealth assets and establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The Guide has been distributed through the Baltimore and Washington business journal subscribers, and is being distributed to all regional partners. For your copy of the guide please download here or contact BioHealth Innovation for details on how to receive a hard copy.
Richard Bendis will speak at the Translational Research Forum during the 2013 BIO International Convention in Chicago. During the forum, speakers will address issues with current translational research models, explore new funding and collaboration opportunities, evaluate how to apply them to federal, academic, and private institutions. The session will take place Monday, April 22, from 4:35 p.m. – 5:25 p.m.
Rich Bendis (BHI) and Paul Vulto (MIMETAS) signing the MOU agreement.
MIMETAS is a Dutch microfluidics company focusing on high-throughput organ-on-a-chip systems for predictive toxicology testing, efficacy screening and personalized therapy.
BHI will support MIMETAS by assisting in establishing a MIMETAS US-based subsidiary, aiding in the application for US- and Maryland-based grants (e.g. SBIR, TEDCO), and identifying potential collaborators and partnerships.
This partnership is important in further expanding Maryland’s connections internationally and expanding Maryland’s biohealth sector.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, today announced its selection of Ram Aiyar, Ph.D., M.B.A., as the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) for BHI at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Dr. Aiyar will help advance fundamental research discoveries to new therapeutics, diagnostics and devices that can be used clinically and commercially.
“We’re pleased to add Dr. Aiyar to our roster of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence,” said Rich Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “He is now our third EIR – joining Todd Chappell, who is EIR at NIH, and Ken Malone, our EIR working with the University of Maryland Ventures. The growth of this program will be a benefit to BHI and our partner organizations for years to come, and will result in transitioning more early-stage biomedical technologies to commercial potential. ”
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, announced today the launch of its Commercial Relevance Program (CRP). BHI’s CRP is designed to help life science companies navigate the complicated process of preparing applications for federal funding, inclusive of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), and other federal government awards.
“The federal grant application process can be very complex. Based on 2012 data released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Maryland ranks 32nd out of 50 states with regard to SBIR award success rates. We would like to improve on this – and are confident that the CRP will help companies be more successful with their submissions,” said Ethan Byler, Director, Innovation Programs, BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
“At the end of the day, it’s about helping Central Maryland companies to get the best results possible as they seek out federal grant awards as a means of non-dilutive funding,” he added.
The CRP incorporates a pre-proposal review by knowledgeable BHI staff and advisors prior to a life science company’s submission of a full proposal. Through this review process, applicants will receive a set of recommendations and tips for troubleshooting their proposal for federal funding.
Interested life science companies in Central Maryland should contact BHI today for more information. The following federal agency SBIR/STTR deadlines are fast approaching:
About BioHealth Innovation, Inc. BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.
Blue Button Plus (Automated and Interoperable Blue Button) can provide a technology path for startups and innovators to build new products and services to help Americans with their health. But beyond, technology startups and small businesses have to think about practical matters like funding. What are ways that the federal government is trying to help health startups, particularly health tech startups, develop and commercialize businesses?
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a federally-funded program encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation’s R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs.
The Final ReportOn May 20, 2013, the White House Lab-To-Market Inter-Agency Summit was held in Washington, D.C. The Summit was organized by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The purpose of the meeting was extraordinary: asking national experts outside of the federal agency system to recommend ways to increase the return-on-investment for the $140 billion annual taxpayer expenditure on federally-funded research and development.
The format for the meeting also was unusual. Research agencies nominated 20 national experts experienced in various phases of technology commercialization to participate in the Summit. The Administration placed no preconditions or limitations on the expert Panel and asked it to focus on “transformative” ideas. We were privileged to be asked to serve as the Summit’s co-chairs.
The Administration requested that the Panel address several overarching questions:
How can agencies better align themselves to more effectively promote the commercial development of their research;
How can effective metrics for various stages of these efforts be developed; and
How can we better leverage multi-agency resources to enhance the public’s return-on-investment through the commercialization of more federally-funded technologies?
Scott Carmer (BHI Board Chair), Jerry Parrott, and Rich Bendis (BHI CEO)
On January 24th, 2013 BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) recognized Jerry Parrott, formerly with Human Genome Sciences, for his contributions as a BHI Founding Board member. He served on the board from 2011 to 2013 and will continue to remain active on BHI’s Commercial Relevance Advisory Board (CRAB). We thank Jerry for his service and look forward to a long lasting relationship.
The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) and BioHealth Innovation (BHI) in collaboration with the Baltimore Business Journal are proud to announce the publication of the Central Maryland BioHealth Entrepreneur’s Resource and Financing Guide.
This Guide will be a compendium of resources to BioHealth innovators and entrepreneurs working to start and grow new companies in the region. A wealth of resources exists in Maryland to support emerging BioHealth companies, however, they are not always readily accessible or captured in one place. The Guide will compile information on financial resources, university facilities and programs, economic development programs, and existing federal laboratory facilities and programs and how to work with them.
On the evening of April 15 as part of the InvestMaryland Challenge Award ceremony held at MICA in Baltimore, BHI presented three awards to local companies. Boss Medical LLC of Baltimore, ConverGene LLC of Gaithersburg, and Vasoptic Medical LLC of Columbia were selected for the awards based upon their high quality products under development, which have good possibility for securing federal funding with support and assistance. Each award – valued at $2,500 – consists of consulting services from BHI on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or federal funding proposals. The SBIR program is designed to support small businesses in commercializing their technological research efforts.
The Global Virus Network plans to move its headquarters to the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, officials announced Thursday.
Emerging pandemic viral threats and current viral killers are a worldwide problem. For this reason, the nonprofit GVN brings together the top medical virologists from more than 30 institutions in 21 countries, to promote international collaborative research, education and advocacy.
Last week, the Baltimore BioPark played host to the Innovation Working Group, which consists of executives from the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission. The commission was founded as a joint venture between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The highly anticipated event is an opportunity for the United States and Russia to find new ways to collaborate on projects in the fields of biotech and science. Members of the group were given a tour of the University of Maryland, College Park and Baltimore BioPark. The event was led by Oleg Fomichev, the Russian Deputy Minister of Economy, and Lorraine Hariton, Special Representative for Business and Commerce of the U.S. Department of State. Among those that joined the three day tour were chief executives of biotech companies from both Maryland and Russia, as well as leaders from the Pushchino BioTech Cluster.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, today announced its selection of Ken Malone, Ph.D., of Early Charm Ventures, as the first BHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) assigned to work directly with UM Ventures. Dr. Malone, a serial entrepreneur who has founded or been an officer of five biotechnology or advanced materials companies, will help advance the commercialization efforts of new start-up companies based upon innovative discoveries coming out of research programs at the University of Maryland (UMD) College Park and Baltimore.
“We’re thrilled to name Ken Malone as an EIR,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President & CEO. “Ken and I have a long history of working together, so I know first hand that he has the experience, drive and perspective to be a true asset to BHI and to the many start-ups he’ll serve from University of Maryland in support of the newly launched UM Ventures initiative.” Dr. Malone will assist any interested UM start-ups once they have been launched.
– Technology Company Awarded Prize at Invest Maryland Challenge Ceremony –
BALTIMORE, MD, April 16, 2013 – University of Maryland (UM) Ventures, an ambitious joint research commercialization effort of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), announced today that it has awarded the first UM Ventures Start-Up Prize to VisiSonics, an Investment Maryland Challenge Semi Finalist company that was founded on intellectual property owned by the University. VisiSonics was recognized during the Invest Maryland Challenge Award Ceremony on Monday, April 15, 2013 at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Identifying customers and having sales is, of course, a major hurdle for university start-ups,” said James L. Hughes, Director of UM Ventures, and President, Research Park Corporation, University of Maryland Baltimore. “With the significance of achieving more than half a million dollars in sales in 2012, VisiSonics is a worthy recipient of this inaugural prize.”
Richard Moore, BD DiagnosticsROCKVILLE AND BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, August 26, 2013 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, announced today its selection of Richard Moore, M.D., Ph.D., as a new Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Technology Transfer (OTT). BHI and BD established this position in July 2013. Dr. Moore, an executive with decades of experience in diagnostics development and technology strategy, will help support the development of new start-up companies and product commercialization based upon innovative technologies selected via OTT license agreements.
In this newsletter we proudly present the new Chairman of the Advisory Board: Richard Bendis.
With his expertise on innovation strategy The Technopolicy Network intends to strengthen its position as the global leading network on Science Based Regional Development and Science Based Incubation. In his article he will give you several insights in the opportunities that lie ahead of us.
This is the time to pay tribute to the achievements of our founding Chairman, Prof. Roger Stough. With his advice and support Prof. Stough made The Technopolicy Network to what it now is. In his article he looks back on the growth of The Technopolicy Network over the past decade.
The Tech Council of Maryland called on legislators Monday to triple the funding for the state’s research and development tax credit and double the scope of its popular biotech tax credit, among other measures.
The Tech Council of Maryland places the expansion of the R&D credit from $6 million to $18 million among its top priorities for the 2013 General Assembly session, which convenes in Annapolis on Wednesday. The measure failed to win approval last year despite passing the Senate. The Tech Council also wants to see that credit made available for companies that haven’t yet reached profitability.
As part of the University of Maryland’s 26th Annual Invention of the Year Awards ceremony held at the University of Maryland Golf Course on April 16, BioHealth Innovation sweetened the pot for this year’s three award winners. BHI offered each award winner strategic consulting services on federal grants or SBIR awards – valued at $2,500 per company. The BHI Commercial Relevance Program is designed to support small businesses in commercializing their technological research efforts.
The three winning inventions were: INFORMATION SCIENCE CATEGORY: Winner: Time-Reversal Division Multiple Access for Wireless Broadband Communications Feng Han, Yu-Han Yang, Beibei Wang, Yongle Wu and K. J. Ray Liu
LIFE SCIENCE CATEGORY: Winner: A Method for Early Diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Eva Chin and Dapeng Chen
PHYSICAL SCIENCE CATEGORY: Winner: A Method for Rapid, Inexpensive Prototyping of Microfluidic Devices Omid Rahmanian, Donald DeVoe
Emergent Biosolutions Inc. said it has secured exclusive right to manufacture and sell VaxInnate Corp.’s pandemic influenza vaccine candidate in the United States.
Under a license agreement with VaxInnate, Emergent Biosolutions acquired exclusive U.S. commercial rights to next generation pandemic influenza vaccine candidate.
This license enables Emergent to fulfill the requirement to secure a pandemic influenza vaccine candidate under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the company noted.
Lets collaborate on building a vibrant biotech (or any other) community! Nice chestnut, but how does one design a community that functions across industries, geographies, support organizations, academic institutions and federal labs, each with very different missions and views of their (and others’) roles? How do you find a shared vision for these variant groups, one that drives growth for the greater region and doesn’t cause the players for fight over each opportunity as if it is the last scrap of possibility we’ll see? How do you prevent such a vision from becoming another dusty whitepaper, where behaviors weren’t aligned to make it happen? I had a chance to discuss how such a collaboration should be designed with Rich Bendis, President & CEO of BioHealth Innovation (BHI), an organization which spans from Rockville to Baltimore.
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, March 4, 2013 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, today announced that BioHealth Innovation, Inc. President & CEO Richard Bendis is scheduled to present at the upcoming SXSW 2013 conference and the 2013 BIO International Convention this Spring. Mr. Bendis is also serving on the Program Committee for AdvaMed 2013: The MedTech Conference, which will be held in Washington, DC, in September.
Specific information for each event is as follows:
2013 South By Southwest “SXSW” Conference, March 8-12, 2013, Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas. Mr. Bendis is participating in a panel on Saturday, March 9, entitled, “Entrepreneurs-in-Residence: Not Just for VCs!” Venture capital firms have utilized the services of ‘Entrepreneurs-in-Residence’ (EIRs), seasoned innovators with functional expertise, to help spur entrepreneurship and fill gaps in expertise. This panel will look at the value of combining the ‘innovation mojo’ of EIRs with some of the government’s brightest ‘intrapreneurs’ to solve the nation’s most pressing challenges. Joining Mr. Bendis on the panel will be Arnaub Chatterjee (Associate Director of Health Information Partnerships, Merck – Office of the Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer), John Paul Farmer (Senior Advisor to the U.S. CTO) and Zachery Jiwa, Health IT Advisor; Innovation Fellow, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Advisor, HIMSS State Advisory Roundtable.
2013 BIO International Convention, April 22-23, 2013, McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Bendis is scheduled to be part of The Translational Research Forum on April 22, 2013, beginning at 1:30 p.m., and a panel discussion focused on effective strategies in developing accelerator models beginning at 4:35 p.m.
AdvaMed 2013: The MedTech Conference, September 23-25, 2013, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC. Mr. Bendis is reviewing panel submissions in the eHealth IT Track.
Montgomery officials are under no illusions about the county’s image among the Washington region’s young: boring.
“We’re a little sleepy,” said County Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda). “We go to bed early.”
For all its prosperity and family-friendly suburban appeal, Montgomery is in the throes of a midlife crisis. That angst has led to a new item at the top of the public policy agenda: a yearning to be hip.
Partnership with Johns Hopkins and BioHealth Innovation, Inc. will speed 10 healthtech startups to market
Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA — September 18th, 2013—DreamIt Ventures is pleased to announce the launch of DreamIt Health Baltimore, a partnership with The Johns Hopkins University and BioHealth Innovation, Inc. to recruit, invest in, and speed the growth and success of a select group of early-stage health IT companies. The program comes on the heels of a successful health IT program in Philadelphia also built on strong industry partnerships that give participants access and advantages typically out-of-reach to startups.
“The key to making health care more accessible is innovation, and the most fertile focus for health care innovation is in acquiring, storing, analyzing and sharing information,” said Ronald J. Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins. “This accelerator project will have important implications for the future use of information as we use technology to find solutions for the most pressing health problems of our day. Just as important, it sets up Baltimore to become even more central to the health care information revolution through the rapid validation of solutions.”
“Technology holds the potential to transform the way in which we approach health care in this country and around the world,” said Paul Rothman, MD, Dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Johns Hopkins has been at the forefront in developing innovative solutions to the most pressing health care challenges. The partnership with DreamIt presents an exciting and unrivaled opportunity to develop the most cutting-edge solutions at the crossroads of information technology and medicine.”
British healthcare firm GlaxoSmithKline has filed for US regulatory approval of its new type 2 diabetes drug albiglutide, which belongs to the same group of injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists as Byetta, Bydureon and Victoza .
GSK announced on Monday that it had submitted the once-weekly medication to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval and confirmed that it also plans to seek European Union regulatory approval for the new product in 2013.
In 1953, Cambridge researchers Watson and Crick published a paper describing the interweaving ‘double helix’ DNA structure – the chemical code for all life.
Now, in the year of that scientific landmark’s 60th Anniversary, Cambridge researchers have published a paper proving that four-stranded ‘quadruple helix’ DNA structures – known as G-quadruplexes – also exist within the human genome. They form in regions of DNA that are rich in the building block guanine, usually abbreviated to ‘G’.
The NHLBI Division of Extramural Research Activities (DERA) is pleased to announce the addition of Dr Lawrence Mahan, as the Director of the Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC). Dr. Mahan’s professional experience spans academia, government and industry in both basic and applied biomedical research. Additionally it includes global business and strategic alliance development, strategic planning, technology evaluation, entrepreneurship guidance, and consulting on platform technology development in the life sciences.
Most recently Dr. Mahan served as Director of Innovation and Business Development for Children’s National Medical Center and its research institutes, the Children’s Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, where he managed intellectual property, strategic business alliance development and the advancement of academic entrepreneurship.
Our Entrepreneur-in-Residence Ram Aiyar participated in a tech transfer series featured on BioCentury This Week discussing the need for accelerated innovations and the current lack of commercialization focus on commercially relevant technologies. The program was divided into 3 parts, Stuck in the Lab, Fresh Approaches, and Validation and also featured Dr. Alicia Loeffler and Rosemarie Truman.
The three-part program can be watched by following the link below.
McLean-based Science Applications International Corp., which announced plans in August to split off part of its operations into a separate publicly traded company, has decided on a name for the new business.
The spinoff, which will focus on national security, health and engineering, will be called Leidos.
Time-reversal techniques for optimizing broadband communication networks and rapid prototyping of microfluidics devices were among the Clark School of Engineering inventions recognized as the most promising new technologies at the University of Maryland Invention of the Year Awards.
The University of Maryland’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) hosted the 26th Annual Invention of the Year Awards reception on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 from 4:30-6:00 pm at the University of Maryland Golf Course Club House.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Shares of United Therapeutics surged Monday after regulators approved the company’s newest treatment for high blood pressure, Orenitram.
A Cowen and Co. analyst called the FDA’s move a “surprise” because the FDA had refused to approve the drug twice before and United Therapeutics hasn’t reported any additional data from clinical studies.
MedImmune’s Cambridge UK medical technology hothouse will be part of an historic tie-up between the business and the Brazilian government’s ‘Science Without Borders’ programme.
MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, says that 30 Brazilian post-doctoral fellows will work at its sites in Maryland, California and Cambridge, UK for a period of two years.
There’s a reason why Johns Hopkins University has been named one of the top med schools worldwide and the number one hospital in the U.S. Students at Johns Hopkins are driven and relentless in their pursuit of innovative solutions to every day problems. They tend to be incredibly talented, skilled in their respective fields. Which would explain why the Baltimore school was named one of the top 10 universities with the most creative students by ViewsOnYou this year.
A London-based startup, ViewsOnYou is known for acting as a dating site of sorts for prospective employees and companies hiring. It sets up profiles to help match job seekers with the ideal businesses for them according to their personality type. Taking three components into consideration – energy, interpersonal and intelligence – ViewsOnYou offers a more in-depth connection for both parties.
A group of heavyweight biotech industry executives, including the former CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., have formed a new Baltimore biotech company.
Centrexion Corp. has raised a total of $23.4 million since its incorporation in February, according to recent Form D filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) officials announced a $1 million dollar prize for innovation in the emerging area of bioelectronics research. The prize will be awarded to the scientists who are first able to solve the challenge of creating a miniaturized, fully implantable device that can read, write, and block the body’s electrical signals to treat disease. It is hoped that finding a solution to this challenge will open and accelerate significant avenues of research in this field. The scientific challenge was developed and agreed by a group of approximately 150 leading scientists from around the world, brought together by GSK’S Bioelectronics R&D unit at a summit earlier this month in New York. Collectively, summit attendees agreed that if they create an implantable wireless device that can record, stimulate and block neural signals to a single organ, it will be a critical factor enabling the onward development of bioelectronic medicines as a future therapeutic reality.
GSK’s Bioelectronics R&D unit is pursuing a relatively new scientific field that could one day result in a new class of medicines that would not be pills or injections but miniaturized, implantable devices. GSK believes that these devices could be programmed to read and correct the electrical signals that pass along the nerves of the body, including irregular or altered impulses that can occur in association with a broad range of diseases. The hope is that through these devices, disorders as diverse as inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, asthma, hypertension and diabetes could be treated.
SAVE THE DATE: DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 Kickoff Weekend: January 17th and 18th, 2014 Baltimore, MD
DreamIt Health Baltimore – powered by The Johns Hopkins University, BioHealth Innovation, and Northrop Grumman – is ramping up for the Winter 2014 accelerator class in Baltimore, MD and we want to make sure the kickoff events are on your calendar. More information below.
DreamIt Health Baltimore Kickoff Reception: January 17, 2013 On the evening of Friday, January 17th, 2014 DreamIt Ventures and our partners are hosting a kickoff party to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies and other members of the Baltimore entrepreneurial community. Location is TBD and the event will begin around 5:30/6:00pm eastern time. We will be sending formal invitations to the event in the near future but wanted to get this on your calendar now. Please ink us in!
The kickoff reception will include light snacks and beverages, in addition to networking and your first opportunity to meet the DreamIt Health Baltimore 2014 companies.
Sponsored by:
Kickoff Weekend Working Session: Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 9:00am – 5:00pm (INVITE ONLY) We are in the process of identifying potential mentors for the companies as well as pairing them up with their law firm & accounting firm partners. Members of this community should please save the date for our working session that Saturday with the companies. We’ll send out a detailed RSVP for the event soon.
If you have any questions about either of these events or the DreamIt Health Baltimore program please contact Dana Rygwelski (dana@dreamitventures.com).
I am a biotech VC, but not a techie. So I don’t follow stem cells, gene therapy, and other similar “blockbuster” technologies in the life sciences. Rather than looking at all the gosh-and-golly stuff going into the biotech pipeline, I wait to see what is coming out of the other end. So far, very little in the most innovative areas.
People are excited about biotech’s IPO window and money flowing into venture funds as reflected in, for example, Bruce Booth’s blog posts. But what he sees as a new day in biotech, I see as the same fundamentals in a new synthetic financial environment manufactured by Ben Bernanke. I applaud Bruce’s optimism. Without people like him and the enthusiasm they bring to the space, biotech would be afflicted by the same anxieties that are paralyzing pharma today.
A handheld ‘bio pen’ developed in the labs of the University of Wollongong (UOW) will allow surgeons to design customised implants on-site and at the time of surgery.
The BioPen, developed by researchers from the UOW-headquartered Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), will give surgeons greater control over where the materials are deposited while also reducing the time the patient is in surgery by delivering live cells and growth factors directly to the site of injury, accelerating the regeneration of functional bone and cartilage.
In the same way that great advances in our understanding of the human genome sparked new opportunities for biotech companies in the early 2000s, growing knowledge about how microbes in the human body affect health has paved the way for a small class of biotech startups emerging now.
These companies are looking at ways to restore balance to populations of bacteria in and on the body that, when they become disrupted, may promote disease. Although these relationships are still not completely understood, researchers have been studying potential links between the microbiome and metabolic diseases, inflammation and a host of other conditions.
Borrowing concepts from 3D printing, scientists in Australia say they’ve come up with a device and a technique that could allow surgeons to precisely deliver live cells and growth factors directly onto damaged bones to help regenerate bone and cartilage.
The “bio pen” holds and dispenses living cell material that’s housed inside a polymer and protected by a second layer of gel material, according to the University of Wollongong. The “ink” is solidified by a low-powered UV light that’s attached to the device, so it can be layered to construct a 3D scaffold in the wound site. From there, it’s expected that the cells will multiply and eventually differentiate into nerve, muscle or bone cells.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
The information contained in this website and newsletters is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BioHealth Innovation via its newsletters, but not written or endorsed in any way by BioHealth Innovation unless otherwise noted. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Please join Rich Bendis on Thursday, February 6th, 2014 for the 7th Annual Health IT Day in Annapolis. Learn more about Health Information Technology (HIT) and how it affects you as a consumer today and in the future. Get the chance to meet with district legislators and senators to let them know what needs to be done to further push HIT in Maryland and keep us on the cutting edge of this rapidly evolving field.
Job description
The incumbent will be responsible for commercializing inventions made as a result of the research conducted at UMBC. Specific duties includes: evaluating invention disclosures for patentability and commercial potential; making recommendations regarding the filing of patent applications; securing intellectual property protection by filing provisional applications and working with outside counsel to file and maintain utility for selected disclosures; marketing intellectual property to find companies interested in taking a license; negotiating license agreements and other technology commercialization activity; developing business plans and other commercialization strategies for UMBC inventions; advising faculty, students, and staff on intellectual property matters; educating faculty about the technology transfer process; working to ensure compliance with research agreements, federal guidelines, and other obligations that UMBC has with respect to inventions created as part of UMBC’s research enterprise; and performing other duties as assigned by the Director of OTD.
The Director, AMS provides overall leadership, management, coordination and strategic direction for the ATCC Microbiology Systems business unit of ATCC. AMS is focused on the development of innovative products and reference standards for use in microbiological-based infectious disease research and industrial applications. As a member of the ATCC Senior Management Team the Director, AMS will also have a direct impact on the management of the ATCC organization. The incumbent is responsible for AMS on a P&L basis and will work cross-functionally within ATCC to ensure that business unit revenue goals are met. This position is also accountable for setting developmental program initiatives, creating external partnerships that facilitate ATCC as a go-to partner for biodeposit and standards development, and implementing programs to deliver on agreed objectives for the AMS business unit. The Director, AMS is responsible for the overall success of the product development process within the AMS business unit including the on-time, on-target and on-budget launch of new products. The incumbent actively supports, complies with and enforces all ATCC corporate policies and procedures.
Kauffman FastTrac® has just joined with Montgomery College to support future and current business owners before, during, and after the startup process. Entrepreneurs will receive the information, resources, and networks necessary to start and grow successful businesses.
The NIH is the premier biomedical research center for the world. Its 27 Institutes and Centers employ approximately 18,000 employees doing a vast array of jobs, all supporting efforts for a healthy nation.
ROCKVILLE AND BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, January 6, 2014 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and MIMETAS announced today that Todd Chappell, MBA, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for BHI, has been named General Manager, U.S. Affairs for MIMETAS. A Netherlands-based company, MIMETAS is establishing its offices within BHI’s headquarters in Rockville. MIMETAS and BHI created a U.S. subsidiary of MIMETAS to access the clinical, regulatory and scientific resources available in Central Maryland and to access the U.S. marketplace, the largest life sciences market in the world.
As leaders of Montgomery County life science companies, we have a stake in whether local students like science. If they do, they are more likely to work for companies such as ours. If they don’t, our pipeline of future workers gets slimmer. So we have taken special note of a science education gap in our region that we believe will have a long-term impact on our minority students, our communities and our businesses.
BALTIMORE, MD, April 16, 2013 – 
Our Entrepreneur-in-Residence ![BioCentury 10.13.13 - [1] Stuck in the Lab](http://www.biocenturytv.com/images/marquees/marq_101313_play.png)
