BHI Weekly News Archives

NHLBI Mid-Atlantic Innovation Conference – Investors register to attend

This conference brings together small businesses, angel investors, venture capitalists, strategic partners, and business leaders from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It will feature presentations by top NHLBI SBIR- funded companies with innovative technologies on the brink of commercialization, an expert panel of investors, and opportunities for partnering and networking. Information about the NHLBI Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination, changes in the SBIR/STTR program re-authorization, and other funding opportunities and resources will be presented. NHLBI staff will be available to provide advice to applicants and awardees.

The NHLBI provides global leadership for research, training, and education to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders and to enhance the health of allindividuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.

The investor perspectives panel will feature a distinguished panel of experts from the investor community, including representatives from NEA, Noble BioVentures, MedImmune and the Maryland Biotechnology Center.

Click Here to Register »

back to top

NEA’s JIm Barrett: Drug innovation should be rewarded, even if it means higher prices – Washington Business Journal

Society needs to “take seriously the rewards for innovators” through the patent system to improve the biotech investing climate, New Enterprise Associates Inc. General Partner James Barrett said Thursday.

Speaking before a crowd at the Mid-Atlantic BIO conference, held in Bethesda this week by the MdBio division of the Tech Council of Maryland, VaBio and the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, Barrett voiced a defense of stronger intellectual property protections for bio entrepreneurs.

back to top

University of Maryland Dingman Center Ranks Among Nation’s Best in Entrepreneurship for Undergrads and MBAs

The University of Maryland is one of the best in the nation for entrepreneurship education, according to a ranking published today by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The university’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business is recognized for its leading entrepreneurship programs for undergraduate and graduate students, ranking No. 14 and No. 24 respectively. The Dingman Center is a major driver of entrepreneurship education on campus and in the region, championing programs for students, faculty and area entrepreneurs. It was the only program in the Washington-Baltimore region recognized on either list.

The Dingman Center, located at the Smith School, helps lead the university’s entrepreneurship efforts and is recognized nationally for its innovative teaching methods that combine classroom activities, practical experience and cultural immersion programs. The center’s programs include:

back to top

BrainScope lands first $250,000 InvestMaryland investment – Washington Business Journal

Bethesda-based BrainScope is the first recipient of capital financing from InvestMaryland.

The deal was announced by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley Tuesday.

BrianScope will receive the first $250,000 investment from the venture capital program to further spearhead neurotechnology to quickly assess traumatic brain injury at the initial point of care.

back to top

Maryland biotech executives home in on capital

Maryland’s young biotechs hoping to spark interest in investment and partnerships will be among the 750-plus industry, state and venture capital executives expected to attend the annual Mid-Atlantic Biotech Conference in North Bethesda on Thursday and Friday.

After three years of trying to snag a pitch presentation slot at the conference, CC Biotech in Rockville will be among the companies vying for investor attention this week.

At least 13 Maryland biotechs will be presenting this year in both startup and early-stage levels.

back to top

InvestMarylandChallenge

Are you an entrepreneur in need of a jump start?

The InvestMaryland Challenge is a national seed and early-stage business competition hosted by the State of Maryland. The Challenge will award $300,000 in grants and a host of business services to companies in the life sciences and high tech industries. Companies also have the opportunity to receive direct investments from venture capital firms and angel investors.

back to top

TruBios, LLC Creates a New Company, CERCA Solutions, to Help Save Women’s Lives ‹ Hopkins Happenings

What if you had the power to save a life? What would you do with it? How would you share it?

J. Roberto Trujillo, President & CEO, TruBios, LLC, which is located on the university’s Montgomery County Campus, is working diligently to answer these tough questions as he sets a lofty goal for his company and its affiliates and subsidiaries: to eradicate all viral diseases in the Americas within the next 38 years. He and his colleagues call this goal Project 2050. One of the first diseases they’re targeting is cervical cancer.

According to Trujillo, 80% of cervical cancer cases can be found in developing countries where the resources needed to treat these kinds of diseases are scarce.

back to top

United Therapeutics Announces Collaboration With Ascendis Pharma To Develop Self-Injectable Treprostinil For Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension | News | Medical Design Technology

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Ascendis Pharma A/S to apply Ascendis Pharma’s proprietary TransCon technology platform to United Therapeutics’ treprostinil molecule, the active ingredient in Remodulin® (treprostinil) injection.  United Therapeutics believes that the TransCon technology platform may enable a controlled, long-acting release of a novel, carrier-linked product, significantly enhancing the delivery profile of treprostinil by establishing a self-injectable alternative for patients who currently use the drug via a continuous infusion pump for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

"We are thrilled to enter into this license agreement with Ascendis Pharma," said Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D., United Therapeutics’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "The potential to bring another novel therapeutic option to PAH patients represents an exciting new opportunity for Remodulin delivery as we constantly re-charge our mission to better the lives of patients suffering from PAH."

back to top

Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Emerging Technology Center Launch the Second AccelerateBaltimore

Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) announced the launch of the second AccelerateBaltimore program in partnership with the Abell Foundation. The program will start accepting applications in early October 2012, and the accelerator will begin in February 2013 with up to 6 companies—a 50% increase from the first AccelerateBaltimore program.  

With the Abell Foundation as the funding partner and the ETC providing the program support services, the first AccelerateBaltimore was launched in April 2012. It was the first business accelerator in Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. The goal of AccelerateBaltimore is to help technology companies meet the challenges facing a start-up and get to market quickly.

back to top

Adventist HealthCare regroups after Maryland setback – Washington Business Journal

Adventist HealthCare hopes an improved economy and a possible asset sale will make the difference when it tries again to secure Maryland regulatory approval to move Washington Adventist Hospital from Takoma Park to White Oak.

But the clock is ticking. The 105-year-old hospital is on pace to lose money this year as revenue continues to decline, which hospital President Joyce Newmyer said is partly a reflection of the increasingly untenable problems faced at its current location, which executives say is too cramped and isolated to accommodate health care reforms.

back to top

University of Md. promotes Elana Fine to managing director of Dingman Center – Baltimore Business Journal

The University of Maryland’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship has promoted Elana Fine to managing director.

Fine joined the Dingman Center, part of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, in 2010 as director of venture investments and was promoted to associate director in January.

back to top

StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour Bus Revs Up Entreprenuerial Spirit

By tour’s end, between 60 and 100 Maryland entrepreneurs will have met the StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour bus now traversing the state to offer an exciting opportunity— to have their ideas heard and possibly realized.

The incandescent yellow and black bus, swathed with the Maryland flag started its tour in Ocean City, Maryland on its way to Baltimore’s Merriweather Pavilion on September 28th, with 20 stops which have already included Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, Chestertown, Wye Mills and Annapolis among others.

back to top

Army awards $2.67M to Bethesda startup to develop miniature device to assess TBI | MedCity News

A Bethesda, Maryland startup BrainScope has been awarded a $2.67 million contract over two years to develop a miniature, hand-held, non-invasive medical devices that can rapidly evaluate traumatic brain injury in the field.

Industry: Medical Devices

Solution/Product: BrainScope has developed the Ahead system to help to triage patients who may have traumatic brain jury, including concussions.

back to top

The NIH Medical Innovation Ecosystem

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has become the world leader in biomedical research because of its unique innovation ecosystem. Read below to learn how funding for the National Institutes of Health strengthens our nation’s health and economy from research laboratories to private industry to patients – the ultimate beneficiaries of medical research.

back to top

Jacoby takes firmer hold of reins at Tech Council of Maryland

For Art Jacoby, the new CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland, the right leadership can be a “game changer.”

Jacoby hopes to be such a catalyst as he assumes this role at the Rockville trade group, which has more than 400 members. The council — which supports Maryland’s 10,000-plus technology businesses, including more than 500 life science businesses — is working to address six areas: education, advocacy, access to capital, access to new markets, community support and membership benefit.

Jacoby takes over from Renée Winsky, who resigned in December after two years. He spent almost eight months as interim CEO before taking the job on a more permanent basis in August.

back to top

SAIC CEO John Jumper speaks on company split, sequestration – Washington Business Journal

After the announcement late last month from Science Applications International Corp. that it will split into two publicly traded companies, CEO John Jumper said Thursday that the spinoff “technical services” company will be located in the Washington area, while the second company is likely remain at its corporate headquarters, an 18-acre Tysons Corner campus.

"It’s reasonable to think that some of them will stay there," Jumper said after speaking at a breakfast event held by the Northern Virginia Technology Council. "It’s reasonable to assume that the other company will be somewhere in the Washington area. … It’s very safe to say it’ll be very close to where we are right now.

back to top

Pharmaceutical Firms Widen Search for Medicines – Technology Review

The drug company GlaxoSmithKline employs 12,687 people in its research and development division to search for and test new drugs. Despite that huge staff, around half of the company’s $6.3 billion R&D budget goes to people who don’t work for Glaxo at all.

The money instead flows to companies like Epizyme, a small biotechnology firm that, since last year, has received $24 million from Glaxo to support research on a novel type of cancer drug. That’s money the biotech firm needs to survive, and if its efforts yield a drug, that would be a success for Glaxo, too.

back to top

NCATS Collaborative Project Wins Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer

A collaborative research team, including nine experts from NCATS, was honored last month for its work on an investigational treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC), a rare genetic disease of cholesterol storage that eventually leads to neurodegeneration. Comprising investigators from four NIH institutes and one pharmaceutical company, the team won the Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for its work with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) as a potential treatment for NPC ― a disease for which there are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies.

It is the first award of its kind to NCATS, recognizing laboratory employees and their partners who have outstanding accomplishments in transferring federally developed technology to the marketplace. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) of the mid-Atlantic region presented the award to the investigators at a ceremony on Aug. 30, 2012, in Cambridge, Md.

back to top

University of Maryland moves forward with joint public health school – Baltimore Business Journal

University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park are moving forward with plans for a collaborative school of public health, administrators said Tuesday.

The two schools have begun the national accreditation process for a single public health school. The move would combine their individual public health schools in an effort to pool resources and expand opportunities for students.

back to top

University of Maryland ranks high for entrepreneurship programs – Washington Business Journal

The University of Maryland, College Park ranks among the top 25 schools in the U.S. for its entrepreneurship programs.

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine compiled the rankings by reviewing more than 2,000 schools’ levels of commitment to entrepreneurship; the percentage of their faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors; and the number and reach of their mentorship programs. Funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects, and their support for school-sponsored business plan competitions were also considered.

back to top

Program aims to teach scientists to talk business | Working at JHU | Gazette | Hub

When Lynn Johnson Langer, a faculty member in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ Advanced Academic Programs, began her career as a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health, one of the first things that struck her was the dichotomy between business and science.

“Businesspeople and scientists didn’t speak each other’s language,” Langer says. “They didn’t always respect each other.”

When she transitioned out of NIH and into the business world, she further saw just how far apart the two worlds were, and how seldom the two seemed able to “play nicely in the sandbox.”

back to top

AHRQ Seeks To Help Patients Report Adverse Medical Events – iHealthBeat

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is seeking approval from the White House for a prototype of a reporting system that would encourage patients to report medical mistakes and unsafe practices by health care providers, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 9/22).

AHRQ already has funded the development of the prototype patient reporting system. The agency is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget to test the prototype’s efficacy (iHealthBeat, 9/10).

back to top

TB Vaccine Accelerator

The TB Vaccine Accelerator, a program to strengthen the pipeline of tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidates and enable a more rational and accelerated vaccine development process, is launching a grant opportunity that is part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health—a large set of grant programs aimed at overcoming persistent bottlenecks that prevent the creation of effective health solutions for the developing world.

This grant opportunity, the first public request for applications (RFA) launched by the TB Vaccine Accelerator, focuses on two interrelated program goals:

back to top

Maryland to award $300,000 as part of entrepreneur contest – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland will be giving away $300,000 to promising entrepreneurs as part of a business competition.

The InvestMaryland Challenge is part of the state’s venture capital initiative that raised $84 million for seed and early stage companies earlier this year. The challenge will award $100,000 prizes to the most impressive companies in three categories: information technology, life sciences and general.

back to top

Richest Counties in America slideshow – Washington Business Journal

No. 10: Montgomery County — Median Household Income of $92,909

back to top

Top 10 Cities for Computer Science Majors slideshow – Washington Business Journal

No. 1: Washington, D.C. The federal government puts Washington on the top of this list. Or to be bore accurate: Companies that do business with the federal government put the region on top of this list.

back to top

Maryland Biotechnology Center Opens Applications for Up to $200K in Individual Awards | Baltimore Citybizlist

The Maryland Biotechnology Center, an office of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, opened the application process for its FY 2013 biotechnology development awards. Since 2010, the program has made nearly two dozen awards totaling $4.5 million to Maryland companies.  The deadline to apply for the awards that range from $50,000 to $200,000 is October 17 and applications are available online here.

“Though we’re just entering the third year of our awards program, it already has enabled organizations to begin translating their research to reality,” said Dr. Judith Britz, Executive Director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center. “Because of our award, companies like Telcare are partnering with industry leaders like QualComm and are able to attract significantly larger private investments.”

back to top

Tech Council of Maryland quietly promotes Jacoby to top spot – Baltimore Business Journal

Art Jacoby’s turn as chief of the Tech Council of Maryland was intended as a stop-gap gig, meant to fill the interregnum between the departure of the Old Boss and the arrival of the New Boss. This summer, the council’s board quietly made Jacoby the New Boss, dropping the “interim” of his job description.

Perhaps his promotion didn’t merit an announcement because, practically, nothing had really changed. Since his arrival in January, Jacoby has never really acted like anything but the full-time CEO.

back to top

MedImmune, WuXi AppTec to develop new biologic for China – Pharmaceutical Business Review

AstraZeneca biologics arm MedImmune and WuXi AppTec have formed a joint venture (JV) to develop and commercialize MEDI5117, a new biologic for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases for China.

As part of the JV, MedImmune will provide technical and development support while WuXi AppTec will provide local regulatory, manufacturing, pre-clinical and clinical trial support.

back to top

QIAGEN Teams with China’s Lepu Medical to Provide Rapid Diagnosis of Heart Attacks Using Point of Need Testing

QIAGEN N.V.  today announced an agreement with Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., a leading medical device company in China, to provide QIAGEN’s ESEQuant Lateral Flow System for use in emergency rooms with Lepu’s tests for cardiac markers that diagnose acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). The agreement expands QIAGEN’s presence in China and adds a new point of need diagnostics application.

China’s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved the ESEQuant Lateral Flow detection system with Lepu Medical’s five cardiac marker tests. Lepu will market the system in China under the name LEPU Quant-Gold. Globally, this is the first regulatory approval in human healthcare for QIAGEN’s pioneering ESEQuant platform which was acquired in 2010.

back to top

MedImmune preparing for Gaithersburg campus expansion

Representatives for Gaithersburg biotech company MedImmune hinted at an expansion of their campus at a mayor and council work session Monday evening.

Medimmune Executive Vice President of Operations Andy Skibo mentioned a “need to reassess how space is divided” on MedImmune’s Gaithersburg campus. “There are no specific construction plans at this time,” he said, though the company is working on a master plan with the city.

back to top

Nancy Floreen to talk economic development at White House – Maryland Politics – The Washington Post

Montgomery County Council member Nancy Floreen has been invited by the White House to attend a special forum on economic development, the county announced Tuesday.

The conference, which will take place next Wednesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, will bring together U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, senior White House officials, business leaders and municipal government officials to discuss effective economic development strategies.

back to top

TEDCO awards $1.2M to 16 area startups – Baltimore Business Journal

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. awarded almost $1.2 million to 16 Maryland startups in its latest round of funding.

The funding, through TEDCO’s Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund, is aimed at helping early-stage companies commercialize products they have developed working with universities and federal laboratories in Maryland.

back to top

StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour Bus Revs Up Entreprenuerial Spirit

By tour’s end, between 60 and 100 Maryland entrepreneurs will have met the StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour bus now traversing the state to offer an exciting opportunity— to have their ideas heard and possibly realized.

The incandescent yellow and black bus, swathed with the Maryland flag started its tour in Ocean City, Maryland on its way to Baltimore’s Merriweather Pavilion on September 28th, with 20 stops which have already included Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, Chestertown, Wye Mills and Annapolis among others.

back to top

For young Md. immigrants, a path out of the shadows – The Washington Post

They call themselves “shadows” — young Maryland residents brought to this country as children by their parents.

They worked hard. They excelled in our public schools. They want to go to college so they can be more productive members of our workforce. They do not ask for a free ride. Yet they remain shadows because their parents came without immigration papers. The Maryland Dream Act would bring these young people into daylight.

back to top

Entrepreneurs Invited to Get on the Bus and Celebrate Their Innovations and Businesses During the Pitch Across Maryland Tour

Startup Maryland Teams with Regional Innovation Stakeholder to Co-Host Tour Stops Across the State of Maryland

Startup Maryland is launching Pitch Across Maryland, a state-wide startup tour and business pitch competition. Taking place September 11 – 28, this two and a half week tour across the state will travel from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland; from Cecil County to St. Mary’s County; from the Baltimore Beltway and the DC Beltway — and everywhere in between.

The bus will travel the state to visit incubators, economic development agencies and universities—all in the name of celebrating entrepreneurship.  At each stop, Startup Maryland will hold rallies sharing information about the incredible entrepreneurial resources across the state and within their region. Additionally, entrepreneurs will get coaching and support from business mentors and other leaders of Maryland’s innovation economy.

back to top

Forbes names Becton, Dickinson one of ‘world’s most innovative’ – Baltimore Business Journal

Apparently, there’s lots of innovation going on up at BD Diagnostic Systems in Sparks.

Forbes listed its New Jersey parent company, Becton, Dickinson & Co., to its list of “World’s Most Innovative Companies” in its latest issue. The medical device company employs 29,000 people total — including 1,600 in Baltimore County. It makes diagnostic equipment for the microbiology and molecular biology industries.

back to top

Vaxin moves from Birmingham to Maryland | al.com

Vaxin Inc., a promising biotech company spun from research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, quietly moved from Innovation Depot to a new home in Maryland as it continues development of vaccines for the flu and anthrax.

The company, founded in 1997, has consolidated its staff and lab space on the East Coast in order to be closer to funding and a number of other vaccine development companies, Chief Executive Bill Enright said Thursday. He said other reasons for the move were to consolidate costs and get closer to the company’s primary source of funding, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Developm

back to top

Tech Council of Maryland MdBio Leadership Breakfast Focuses on Issues of Importance to Maryland’s Biotech Industry – MarketWatch

Peter Greenleaf, president of MedImmune, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, addressed many of the challenges and growth opportunities for Maryland biotech companies at today’s MdBio Leadership Series breakfast, hosted by the Tech Council of Maryland (TCM).

“Maryland is a hotbed of activity in the biotech sector, so changes taking place in the industry — related to competitive threats and growth opportunities — will no doubt have a big impact on businesses based in our state,” said Art Jacoby, TCM’s CEO. “Peter’s remarks this morning provided valuable insight — from not only his role as president of MedImmune, but from the perspective as chairman of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority — into the changes taking place in the biotech market and how companies at all stages can position themselves for success.”

back to top

After growth, MedImmune pushes on midstage pipeline – Washington Business Journal

MedImmune is increasingly concentrating its workforce in Maryland, both through new hires and consolidations from California, as it prepares to take a host of midstage drug candidates through clinical trials.

The Gaithersburg biotech is entering a pivotal period. Its parent, British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca PLC, is laying off employees by the thousands at the same time that it is investing more heavily in its Maryland-based biologics arm.

back to top

Biotechnology Development Grants – FY2013 Awards (up to $200K) Applications Now Available

Deadline to Apply: October 17, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.

The Maryland Biotechnology Center’s (MBC) Biotechnology Development Awards provide funding to advance biotechnology research and development in Maryland along the path to commercialization.   

Applications for the Maryland Biotechnology Center’s FY2013 Biotechnology Development Awards for Biotechnology Commercialization or Translational Research now are available in the column to the left.

back to top

RxAnte gets $4.6M investment – Washington Business Journal

McLean-based RxAnte, developing technologies that help make sure people take their prescription drugs, has received a $4.6 million investment from Aberdare Ventures and West Health Investment.

The company will use the financing to continue development of its technologies and take them to market.

back to top

As Tuberculosis Grows More Difficult to Control, Vaccine Candidate to Prevent Disease Enters Clinical Testing

Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announce today the start of the first clinical trial of IDRI’s novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate, ID93 + GLA-SE. The Phase I clinical trial will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate in 60 healthy adult volunteers. The study will be conducted by Johnson County Clin-Trials in Lenexa, Kansas, in close collaboration with Aeras and IDRI.  

Tuberculosis (TB), which kills more people than any other infectious disease except HIV, has orphaned 10 million children, and costs the global economy an estimated $1 billion every day. An increasing number of diagnosed multidrug-resistant TB cases are making the disease more difficult to control and multiplying the cost and time it takes to treat patients, which can take two years or longer for multidrug-resistant TB.

back to top

Fyodor Biotechnologies Inc Awarded a National

Fyodor Biotechnologies, a Baltimore-based diagnostic and biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the National Science Foundation has awarded the company a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant. With the $150,000 funding, Fyodor plans to develop a novel recombinant antibody to be used in a urine-based test for the point-of-need detection of Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide, potentially serious but treatable bacterial disease that occurs in humans and domestic animals, including pets. The causative bacteria are spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water (including swimming pools) or soil, and can survive there for weeks to months. Clinical signs of leptospirosis are nonspecific, and current diagnostic tools rely on complicated testing methods that are unsuitable for use in many point- of-need settings. Therefore, a simple one-step test is urgently needed for rapid diagnosis.

back to top

SureScripts strikes health records deal with Epic – Washington Business Journal

Arlington-based Surescripts will partner with health record-keeping giant Epic Systems Corp. to allow doctors to transfer records between the two patient data networks, the company said Thursday.

Surescripts, which specializes in transmitting prescription data, launched a network for doctors to share all clinical data in 2010. Under the deal announced Thursday, doctors using that network will be able to connect to physicians using Epic’s own network, known as the Care Everywhere interoperability platform.

back to top

Looking for Cures Lost in Translation

In a recent article in Slate magazine’s Future Tense project,  Pascal Zachary made a key observation about the strange estrangement of science from technology in U.S. policy when he wrote:

“Neither candidate will ask, for instance, why taxpayers spend some $30 billion annually to try to understand the basic causes of diseases but virtually nothing on delivering effective new medical therapies to the ill.”

Indeed, over the past 10 years, $340 billion in federal funds have been allocated for basic medical research to improve and lengthen the lives of Americans. But how much money does the government spend actually translating medical science discoveries into workable therapies? Surprisingly little.

back to top

Mapping The Next Three Decades of Health Technology | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

When science fiction films depict the future, the best writers and directors are often less concerned with accurately predicting how specific technologies might reshape the world than they are with confronting the moral or philosophical quandaries of present day. It’s what makes those stories compelling–and relatable. When futurists attempt to tell us how (and when) technology leaps will occur, they’re not only speculating about what we’re capable of achieving in the coming decades but also imploring us to prepare–scientifically and psychologically–for those events.

Envisioning Technology, the firm behind the massive infographic explorations of the future of emerging technology and the future of education technology, is, as you might guess, run by a futurist: Michell Zappa. His most recent visualization maps the next three decades of health technology, charting how regeneration, augmentation, diagnostics, treatments, biogerontology, and telemedicine will change over time. According to ET, the stuff of science fiction–from cryogenics to all-out life extension, from robot health care to 3-D-printed synthetic organs–will be very real before too long.

back to top

U.S. Life-Sciences Valuations Creeping Upward, Law Firm Says – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ

Law firm Fenwick & West, which handles legal issues for a variety of technology companies, has examined 186 venture fundings of U.S.-based companies in the life-sciences sector over the first half of 2012, and found that valuations have ticked upward.

Matt Rossiter, a partner at the firm and co-author of a recent survey on life-sciences deals, said he has also noticed increased involvement in deals by public medical-technology companies, who often turn to start-ups for new innovations.

back to top

The FDA Turns Friendly Toward Pharma in 2012 | Xconomy

The FDA, for most of the past 10 years, was the regulatory agency that many people in biotech and pharma loved to hate. Critics have long complained about bureaucratic foot-dragging, byzantine organization, poor communication, excessive aversion to risk, and arbitrary decisions around whether to approve new drugs for sale in the U.S.

But FDA bashers, at least in the pharmaceutical world, haven’t had much to complain about in 2012. Suddenly the FDA and the pharma industry it regulates look like best pals. The FDA, under commissioner Margaret Hamburg, has been making noise for some time about its desire to not just ensure the safety and effectiveness of the U.S. drug supply, but to also help promote the development of innovative new medicines. This year, the agency has absolutely done everything it can to back up its rhetoric with actions that prove it isn’t an adversary but more of a partner in the development of new medicines.

back to top

Baltimore Innovation Week 2012

Baltimore Innovation Week is a week-long celebration of technology and innovation in Baltimore. The annual week of events is intended to grow the impact of this innovative region through programming focused on technology, collaboration and improving Baltimore.

Baltimore Innovation Week 2012 takes place September 20 to September 29.

back to top

Smith School Launches Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program

A trio of social entrepreneurs with industry success in technology, law and fashion are appointees to the inaugural Social-Entrepreneur-In-Residence team at the Robert H. Smith School of Business Center for Social Value Creation at the University of Maryland.

The appointees are Kim Persons, a partner with the KAP Group and founding president (1999-2010) of Gecko Traders Inc., a manufacturer and global distributor of handbags and women’s fashion accessories; Drew Bewick, managing director of Tree House Ventures, LLC, a technology and innovation consulting firm serving multiple companies and non-profit organizations; and Darius Graham, co-founder of the DC Social Innovation Project – a non-profit providing seed funding and pro bono services to spur creative, new projects tackling pressing social issues in Washington, D.C.

back to top

Business of Bio @ The BioPark – Wednesday, September 5 at 10:30am to 1:00pm

University of Maryland BioPark, Life Sciences Conference Center

Meet with Bahija Jallal, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Research and Development, MedImmune The Changing Face of the Biopharmaceutical Industry—Creating a Culture of Innovation

The biopharmaceutical industry is not the same as it was even a decade ago. Today, there are even more pressures to produce not just safe and effective drugs but safe and effective drugs that the payers are willing to pay for. We also know that research and development costs are increasing while R&D productivity continues to be on the decline. How can we continue to make it in the industry when our ultimate goal is to provide much needed drugs to patients with unmet medical needs?

back to top

Vaccine maker MedImmune has a new AZ chief – FierceVaccines

Five years ago this summer, AstraZeneca ($AZN) decided to pony up to purchase Maryland-based MedImmune for a cool $15.6 billion, a deal that left many wondering whether the bills matched the product. Now, incoming CEO Pascal Soriot has his work cut out for him.

Come October, the French-native will jump over from Roche ($RHHBY), where he served as chief operating officer since 2010. He’s inheriting a vaccines and biotech drugs division with 2,600 Maryland employees and 4,000 globally, The Washington Post reports. The company will also shutter two California offices, leading to a loss of 200 jobs and a shift of 100 more to other sites.

back to top

The 2013 Omnibus NIH/CDC SBIR Contract Solicitation has been posted

The deadline for contract proposal submissions is Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Details and solicitation materials are available at the NIH SBIR Website in the Funding Opportunity Table: http://sbir.nih.gov/.

Applications must respond to a topic in the solicitation. All submissions must be on paper. Contract proposal forms are available electronically at PHS 2013-1 PDF [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/SBIRContract/PHS2013-1.pdf] or MS Word [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/SBIRContract/PHS2013-1.doc]. Please follow the direc­tions in the solicitation very carefully.

back to top

National Institutes of Health signs big lease in Bethesda – Washington Business Journal

The National Institutes of Health has renewed a Bethesda lease, staying put for at least another decade.

The General Services Administration signed a 10-year lease renewal for NIH’s Democracy Plaza location, for nearly 356,000 square feet, about three miles from the NIH headquarters on Rockville Pike.

back to top

Johns Hopkins Medicine wins $8.9M patient safety research grant – Baltimore Business Journal

Johns Hopkins Medicine received an $8.9 million grant Tuesday to put toward patient safety research.

The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, based at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, was awarded the grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The foundation plans to award $500 million over the next 10 years for research on eliminating preventable harm in hospitals.

back to top

Unigo: Top 10 Colleges for Budding Entrepreneurs

In this weekend edition of the 2013 Unigo College Rankings we’re showcasing the colleges across the country that, according to students, have built exemplary entrepreneurship programs and made resources for aspiring founders readily available.

back to top

Universities at Shady Grove grows with Montgomery County’s needs

The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville is bringing in a program this fall that leaders say will help educate the county work force to match the opportunities available.

After watching the growth of the health care industry, and talking with students and local businesses, the campus will offer the University of Baltimore’s Master of Science in health systems management program, said John Callahan, program director for the University of Baltimore’s health systems management program.

back to top

SAIC to split into two companies – Washington Business Journal

McLean-based Science Applications International Corporation says it will split into two separate, publicly traded companies.

The newly formed spin-off company would focus on government technical services and enterprise information technology, it says.

SAIC expects the spin off to take place in the latter half of its next fiscal year. It will not require a shareholder vote, though the board, which has authorized management to pursue the plan, will have final approval.

back to top

Baltimore Innovation Week 2012

Baltimore Innovation Week is a week-long celebration of technology and innovation in Baltimore. The annual week of events is intended to grow the impact of this innovative region through programming focused on technology, collaboration and improving Baltimore.

Baltimore Innovation Week 2012 takes place September 20 to September 29.

back to top

Johns Hopkins Researchers Discover Link Between A Protein And Aggressive, Recurring Prostate Cancer

In a study to decipher clues about how prostate cancer cells grow and become more aggressive, Johns Hopkins urologists have found that reduction of a specific protein is correlated with the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, acting as a red flag to indicate an increased risk of cancer recurrence.

Their findings are reported online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Aug. 27, 2012.

The team focused on a gene called SPARCL1, which appears to be critically important for cell migration during prostate development in the embryo and apparently becomes active again during cancer progression.  Normally, both benign and malignant prostate cancer cells express high levels of SPARCL1, and reduce these levels when they want to migrate. The team correlated this reduction or “down regulation” of SPARCL1 with aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

back to top

University Inventions Earned $1.4-Billion in 2011 – Administration – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Universities and their inventors earned more than $1.4-billion from commercializing their academic research in the 2011 fiscal year, collecting royalties from new breeds of wheat, from a new drug for the treatment of HIV, and from longstanding arrangements over enduring products like Gatorade.

Northwestern University earned the most of any institution reporting, with more than $191-million in licensing income.

back to top

Global Biotech Bases U.S. Headquarters, Commercial Operations at University of Maryland BioPark

The University of Maryland BioPark announced today that Fluxome Inc., a nutraceutical ingredient company using novel metabolic engineering and fermentation methods, is the newest company to join the growing community of commercial tenants at the BioPark. According to Fluxome’s lease with building owner Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, Fluxome has based its U.S. headquarters and commercial operations in the BioPark building at 801 West Baltimore Street in Baltimore.

Said Jane Shaab, University of Maryland Research Park Corporation Senior Vice President, “It’s exciting to have another international tenant join us and it is especially rewarding to welcome Fluxome’s President and CEO Angela Tsetsis, who was previously on the management team at Columbia-based Martek (now Royal DSM N.V.), back to Maryland’s business community. Under Angela’s leadership, Fluxome is an example of a next-generation Maryland life sciences company.”

back to top

Rockville Economic Development Inc. declares winners in StartRight competition – The Washington Post

Rockville Economic Development Inc. has chosen the winners of its annual Start­Right business plan competition, awarding the top prizes to entrepreneurs who created a social networking Web site and a device for people with sensory processing issues.

The competition, now in its ninth year, aims to foster women in business by inviting female entrepreneurs to pitch a detailed business plan and doling out roughly $20,000 in prize money.

back to top

Mid-Atlantic Bio Announces SBIR Workshops and Panels – MarketWatch

As a special offering presented during the upcoming annual Mid-Atlantic Bio conference, co-hosts announced a comprehensive line-up of programming focused on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to help interested companies learn more about specific opportunities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sessions will include an update on the recent rule changes and new requirements, advice on how to apply for the competitive program and the opportunity for individual meetings with program managers from a variety of Institutes of the NIH.

"The SBIR program continues to be an important source of funding and support for emerging companies seeking to commercialize innovative research and develop market applications," Jeffrey M. Gallagher, Virginia Bio Interim Executive Director and co-host of Mid-Atlantic Bio said. "We are particularly grateful that our geographical proximity to NIH’s world class program managers allows us to provide conference attendees individual interactions and one-on-one meetings during our upcoming event."

back to top

A New and Exciting Way to Search for Federal Technologies – One Stop Shop

It’s now much faster and easier to search for federal laboratory inventions that are available for transfer to business partners. The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) has developed a free online search engine that can quickly locate a particular type of technology anywhere in the nationwide system of federal labs and research centers.

Instead of sifting through the websites and records of each lab, users can now make a single search—typing in the keywords for the technology they’re looking for. The search engine, which uses Google technology, scans available federal lab technologies and quickly returns all relevant results.

back to top

NIH SBIR Contract Solicitation Now Available | atdc.org

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued the new SBIR contract solicitation aimed at supporting the development of innovative biomedical and behavioral research technology with the potential for commercialization.

This SBIR solicitation is a separate and independent offering from the NIH and is not connected to their year-long Omnibus SBIR/STTR Grants solicitation. The contract solicitation is much smaller, and the topics are more focused and specific to each agency’s mission.  For example, topics available in this year’s solicitation range from New Methods to Detect and Assess Myocardial Fibrosis to Smartphone Application for Global Birth Defects Surveillance.  Budgets are also strictly enforced, and are limited to $150,000 for Phase I and $1 million for Phase II.   

back to top

Review of NIH’s Big Hitters | The Scientist

According to a new policy announced this week (August 20) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), scientists receiving more than $1 million in direct NIH grant funds each year will be more carefully reviewed when they submit new proposals. The policy is a variation on one instituted in May that initiated an additional layer of review for researchers with $1.5 million or more in total annual funding. This extra scrutiny is designed to avoid overlap from ongoing research and stretch the flat NIH budget as far as possible.

back to top

Johns Hopkins researchers return blood cells to stem cell state

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

The work, described in the Aug. 8 issue of the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS), is Chapter Two in an ongoing effort to efficiently and consistently convert adult blood cells into stem cells that are highly qualified for clinical and research use in place of human embryonic stem cells, says Elias Zambidis, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of oncology and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering and the Kimmel Cancer Center.

back to top

Under CIT’s Mindus, new angel network takes shape – Washington Business Journal

Angel investing stands to benefit from economies of scale. Solo startup investing isn’t quite as terrifying a process as solo entrepreneurship, but it still involves the same sort of iron guts and optimism in the face of probable failure. It’s your cash on the line, after all. Finding good deals, performing due diligence, haggling with founders over valuation — all can be daunting jobs for a single angel. Getting it wrong means lot of grief and an eventual tax write off.

The wisdom of crowds, especially seasoned, sophisticated crowds, has much to offer in this regard. And that is the basic idea behind angel networks, which boost not only the amount of capital available to an entrepreneur, but also – if done correctly — the intelligence on the other side of the table.

back to top

TWO MEDIMMUNE FACILITIES AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS LEED® GOLD BUILDING CERTIFICATION

MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, announced today that it has been awarded LEED® Gold building certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).  Two facilities, the 308,000 square-foot R&D laboratory and 9,800-square-foot fitness center, received the certification.  LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – is the nation’s preeminent program for design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

“We’re very proud to achieve LEED Gold certification. MedImmune is committed to environmental sustainability and strives to be a good corporate citizen and neighbor to surrounding communities,” said Andy Skibo, Executive Vice President, Operations, MedImmune.

back to top

Telcare secures $25M in equity funding – Washington Business Journal

Bethesda-based Telcare Inc. has secured more than $25 million in equity funding.

Telcare, the developer of the first FDA-cleared wireless glucose monitoring system for people with diabetes, will use the funds for marketing, sales, research and development and ongoing operations.

Sequoia Capital led the round, which includes backing from existing investor, Qualcomm Inc., acting through itsQualcomm Life Fund.

back to top

Scheer Partners Represents the Tech Council of Maryland in New Lease | Maryland Health Sciences Commercial Real Estate Services | Scheer Partners

The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM) has moved its headquarters to a new location within Rockville, the result of a transaction recently put together by two executives at Rockville-based Scheer Partners.

The leading provider of fully integrated commercial real estate services for the technology and health science industries in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas announces today that it has negotiated on behalf of TCM in a 3,962-square-foot lease on the top floor of 9210 Corporate Blvd.

back to top

Montgomery College seeks to meet bioscience industry demands

As Maryland’s bioscience industry focuses more on running clinical trials for drug developers, there’s a growing demand for the highly-trained workers needed.

Montgomery College answered that call this summer, with a course that focused on clinical trial project management and was offered to anyone with a bachelor’s degree. Eighteen people graduated from the course Saturday, including one who was immediately snapped up by Amarex Clinical Research, a Germantown contract research organization.

back to top

Rock Health investors up seed funding for startups to $100K | mobihealthnews

Digital health accelerator Rock Health’s investor partners have upped the amount of seed funding they will invest in startups that participate in the program from $20,000 to $100,000. The startups will each receive a total of $100,000 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Mohr Davidow Ventures, Aberdare Ventures, and the Mayo Clinic. Rock Health, which is itself a non-profit, will continue to take no equity in the startups.

Rock Health just graduated its first class of startups from its Boston-based (well, Cambridge, really) summer program. Rock Health CEO Halle Tecco told MobiHealthNews that it is interested in making the Boston-based program an ongoing one instead of a summer program, but it is looking for more help from Boston-area partners to make that happen. Harvard Medical School and Merck supported this past summer’s program.

back to top

You might be a healthcare startup mentor if … (5 must-have qualities of a good mentor) | MedCity News

These days, everyone thinks he’s a mentor.

With accelerators, incubators and innovation events sprouting everywhere, there’s plenty of opportunity for seasoned entrepreneurs to pass on their knowledge to a new generation of startups. But according to the people who work with them, not every good entrepreneur makes a good mentor.

I (informally) polled leaders at a couple Boston incubators, as well as some of the entrepreneurs they work with, to see which qualities are valued most in a mentor. What they told me is that you might be a good startup mentor if you have these five qualities:

back to top

Fina Biosolutions Licenses Rights to its Vaccine Conjugation Technology for Development and Manufacturing of PNEUMOCOCCAL vaccines in China to Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd

Deal will accelerate development of affordable Pneumococcal Vaccines in China

Fina Biosolutions LLC, a research and development stage biotechnology company focused on developing affordable conjugate vaccines, and The Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd (CDIBP) announced their agreement to license Finabio’s conjugate vaccine technology for the development and manufacturing of Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in China. The agreement will accelerate the multi-valent Pneumococcal vaccine development program at CDIBP.

The structure of the license in China includes an upfront payment, payments based on achievement of Chinese regulatory milestones, and royalty payments that are contingent upon successful development and commercialization. The agreement includes process development, personnel training at Fina BioSolutions labs in Rockville MD and scalable manufacturing of conjugate vaccines at CDIBP.

back to top

University of Maryland MIPS program awards $4M – Baltimore Business Journal

University of Maryland’s Maryland Industrial Partnerships awarded $4 million to 19 technology development projects.

The projects team Maryland technology companies with university researchers in an effort to bring promising technology to the commercial marketplace.

MIPS contributed $1.5 million of the grant money; the companies involved in the projects contributed the remaining $2.5 million.

back to top

Mid-Atlantic Biotech Conference – September 27-28, 2012

Policy and partnerships.  Innovation and investment.  Access and awareness.  Mid-Atlantic Bio:  at the epicenter of bioscience R&D, capital and policy.

Mid-Atlantic Bio is the premier regional biotech conference for senior-level executives, policymakers, academia, financiers, media and service providers.  First launched in 2005, the conference is a joint initiative of the founding host organizations: the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and the Technology Council of Maryland. The Conference is also pleased to welcome  the North Carolina Biotechnology Center as a Strategic Partner for 2012.

back to top

CardioNet buys Cardiocore Lab, will expand services

CardioNet Inc. entered into a definitive agreement Monday to acquire Cardiocore Lab Inc. for $23.5 million.

Rockville-based Cardiocore is a centralized cardiac testing laboratory services company with locations in San Francisco and London.

back to top

Connelly to lead Human Genome Sciences | NorthCentralPA.com

Deirdre Connelly ’83 will take the helm as president and CEO of Human Genome Sciences following the company’s acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.

HGS, headquartered in Rockville, Md., exists to place new therapies into the hands of those battling serious diseases.

back to top

Care.com Raises Another $50 Million Led By Institutional Venture Partners | BostInno

Care.com, the site that matches users with childcare, pet care and related services, announced today that it has raised a whopping $50 million in Series E funding, led by Institutional Venture Partners. The round was joined by Matrix Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Trinity Ventures.

Founded in 2006, the Waltham-based company has upwards of seven million users in 15 countries.

back to top

Johns Hopkins, NIH to Host Second Annual Symposium on Infection Imaging | Children’s Hospital at Johns Hopkins | Baltimore, Maryland

Johns Hopkins imaging specialists are teaming up with investigators from the National Institutes of Health to host the second annual molecular imaging symposium on Sept. 21.

The inaugural event, held last September at Johns Hopkins, was the brainchild of Sanjay Jain, M.D., a TB expert and an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, and his colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Center for Imaging Research.

back to top

University of Maryland vaccine center gets $4M grant from Wellcome Trust – Baltimore Business Journal

The Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine received a $4 million grant from The Wellcome Trust, considered among the most prestigious grant-giving charitable foundations.

The Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Indian partner Bharat Biotech will use the grant for pre-clinical and clinical research for a vaccine that fights an infectious disease stemming from non-typhoidal Salmonella. The disease is common in sub-Saharan Africa and can lead to meningitis and sepsis.

back to top

Two Baltimore Business Leaders are BioHealth Innovation, Inc.’s Newest Board Members – Baltimore Business Journal

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 appointment to its Board of Directors of two Baltimore-based business leaders: M&T Bank Corporation Senior Vice President/Regional President Baltimore Scott E. Dagenais and Ernst & Young’s Baltimore Office Managing Partner Jay S. Ridder.

"As the first Central Maryland intermediary created to connect Baltimore’s strengths in university and hospital biohealth research with the bioscience industry and federal lab assets in Montgomery County, it is important for the BHI Board to have leadership and representation from both parts of our region," said Scott Carmer, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Chairman of the Board and MedImmune Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations. "I am pleased to welcome Scott and Jay to the BHI Board.  They will both bring valued expertise from the Baltimore community and also provide depth in commercial banking and accounting experience."

back to top

The Third Annual Technology Transfer Summit North America – October 22-23, 2012

TTS Ltd., the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Johns Hopkins University Technology Transfer are pleased to announce that the 2012 edition of the TTS North America takes place at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Often immitated but never equaled, since 2007, and in North America since 2010, the TTS Global Initiative has been the original and leading international meeting for biotech sector Industry-Academia licensing, partnering  & technology transfer.  Designed to help all Tech Transfer Offices build the same expertise and relationships that enables the top TTOs to do the deals and sign the licensing agreements that have brought so much benefit to their universities, insitutes, departments and researchers. The TTS North America is the pillar of this key international inititiative and community of the leading technology transfer, licensing, IP and early stage biotech innovation and venture professionals world wide.

back to top

Venture capital: ‘It’s a very challenging market’ in Maryland

Most of the $25.5 million in venture capital pumped into Maryland businesses in the second quarter went to just two companies and was primarily focused on later-stage firms, according to a new report.

The $25.5 million total, which was split among eight companies, was the smallest quarterly total in almost 16 years, according to the new MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

back to top

Could FastStitch Device, Invented by Undergrads, Be the Future of Suture? « News from The Johns Hopkins University

After a surgeon stitches up a patient’s abdomen, costly complications—some life-threatening—can occur. To cut down on these postoperative problems, Johns Hopkins undergraduates have invented a disposable suturing tool to guide the placement of stitches and guard against the accidental puncture of internal organs.

The student inventors have described their device, called FastStitch, as a cross between a pliers and a hole-puncher. Although the device is still in the prototype stage, the FastStitch team has already received recognition and raised more than $80,000 this year in grant and prize money to move their project forward. Among their wins were first-place finishes in University of California, Irvine, and University of Maryland business plan competitions and in the ASME International Innovation Showcase.

back to top

Health News – University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Identify Gut Bacteria Associated With Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified 26 species of bacteria in the human gut microbiota that appear to be linked to obesity and related metabolic complications. These include insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, increased blood pressure and high cholesterol, known collectively as “the metabolic syndrome,” which significantly increases an individual’s risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The results of the study, which analyzed data from the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, PA, were published online on Aug. 15, 2012, in PLOS ONE, which is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS). The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (UH2/UH3 DK083982, U01 GM074518 and P30 DK072488)

back to top

Sara Nayeem, George Bell IV – Weddings – NYTimes.com

Dr. Sara Michelle Nayeem and Dr. George Wall Bell IV were married Saturday evening at River Farm in Alexandria, Va. The Rev. Michael Godzwa, an Assemblies of God minister, officiated. Enlarge This Image

Susie Soleimani Photography Dr. Nayeem, 34, works at New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm in Chevy Chase, Md., where she helps the firm invest in biopharmaceutical companies. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received an M.B.A. from Yale, from which she also received a medical degree cum laude.

back to top

MdBio Leadership Series with Peter Greenleaf, President of MedImmune

The state of the Life Sciences Industry

The biopharmaceutical industry has experienced major changes in the past few years with more changes expected to come. MdBio is proud to have Mr. Greenleaf provide his perspectives of the state of the global biotech industry and critical business/regulatory/government issues impacting the industry.

As Chairman of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority, Mr. Greenleaf will also discuss recent developments within the Maryland life sciences industry, including an implementation update of the InvestMaryland Program.

back to top

MedImmune’s Greenleaf, Clovis Oncology’s Mahaffy to Deliver Keynotes at 2012 Mid-Atlantic Bio Conference – MarketWatch

The Mid-Atlantic Bio Conference today announced that two industry-leading executives will deliver keynote addresses at the nationally recognized conference taking place on September 27-28 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference in Bethesda, Md.

Patrick J. Mahaffy, president and CEO of Boulder, Colorado-based Clovis Oncology, a biopharmaceutical company, will deliver opening remarks Thursday, September 27. Peter Greenleaf, president of MedImmune, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, will speak at the Conference’s closing luncheon Friday, September 28.

back to top

The CyberMaryland Conference – October 16-17, 2012

Join cybersecurity leaders, luminaries and rising stars at CyberMaryland 2012.

Be at the epicenter of information security and innovation during Cyber Security Awareness month when more than 1,000 people convene in Baltimore for the region’s premiere professional cybersecurity gathering.

Register today as a conference attendee, challenge participant, showcase exhibitor or awards banquet guest. CyberMaryland 2012 includes:

• CyberMaryland Conference with 28+ Sessions in Three Tracks
• Cyber Generation Showcase & Expo
• Maryland Cyber Challenge & Competition (MDC3) for High School, College & Pro Teams
• National Cyber Security Hall of Fame Inaugural Induction Ceremony & Awards Banquet

back to top

Novak Biddle Venture Partners raising sixth fund – Washington Business Journal

Roger Novak, left, and Jack Biddle are embarking on their first fund in six years.

Bethesda-based Novak Biddle Venture Partners is setting out to raise its sixth fund, said co-founder Jack Biddle, its first such effort since the early-stage venture firm raised $227 million six years ago.

That fund will be accompanied by some big changes at the top. Two general partners, Phil Bronner and Tom Scholl, will take on reduced roles as venture partners in the next fund, according to Biddle. Bronner and Scholl, both tech brains with entrepreneurial backgrounds, were promoted to their current positions when the firm closed its fifth fund in 2006.

back to top

More Applications; Many More Applicants NIH Extramural Nexus

We all know that NIH has seen a large increase in applications over the past decade, but how much of this is due to scientists writing more applications and how much is a result of a larger number of scientists doing biomedical research? I decided to take a closer look at this question, particularly at competing applications for investigator-initiated research project grants (RPGs), i.e., those that are not submitted in response to a specific request for applications.

back to top

Brace Yourself: Biotech IPOs Are Beating Tech’s Big Names | Xconomy

The average American on the street has a Facebook account, an opinion about Facebook, heard about the Facebook initial public offering, and knows it collapsed. That same person doesn’t see how their life connects with biotech, probably can’t name a single biotech company, and certainly hasn’t heard of any members of the biotech IPO class of 2012.

But here’s something that might surprise both biotech insiders and the average guy or gal on the street. The biotech IPO class of 2012 has made money for investors, while tech’s most glamorous up-and-comers have been stumbling.

back to top

Qiagen reports strong performance in second quarter

Qiagen has published its financial results for the second quarter of 2012, during which it experienced a strong increase in sales.

The company’s net sales rose by nine percent year on year to reach a total of $307.2 million (197.67 million pounds), with growth observed across all regions and customer classes.

Molecular diagnostics and applied testing product sales were noted as being particularly robust, while the firm was also able to expand through the acquisition of Cellestis, Ipsogen and AmniSure.

back to top

5 quick tips to guard your digital health intellectual property

When you’re neck deep in starting a new business, you may not take the time to properly protect your inventions. As a result, you could see your intellectual property stolen or you could be sued for inadvertently stealing the intellectual property of others. Here are five easy tips on how to quickly develop an intellectual property strategy, specifically with respect to patents.

1) Give each team member an information disclosure form

The first key step to getting a patent is identifying ideas that are potentially novel and inventive. Discovering and understanding your employees’ inventions as early as possible will enable your patent lawyer to draft earlier applications with more accurate and comprehensive disclosures, which means stronger patents. Circulating an information disclosure form to your team will help your startup learn about technology being created internally.

back to top

U.S. Biotech Clusters Are Losing Their Anchor Tenants, and It Hurts | Xconomy

Every industry needs its anchors, the companies that everyone looks up to as models of success. Think Apple, GE, Boeing. Biotech is no different, as it has been defined by trailblazers like Genentech, Genzyme, and more.

But if you look around, biotech is clearly losing its anchors. And this worrisome trend isn’t just happening in one or two places—it is playing out in most every regional cluster where the industry has grown up in the past 30 years.

back to top

Guest column: Work with promise

What do I do after I graduate? That is never an easy question, but the July 19 Diamondback article, “Students struggle to find jobs after graduating with Ph.D.s in sciences,” suggests it might be even harder to figure out.

The article cited a recent survey showing 45 percent of computer, mathematical and natural sciences school graduates had accepted full-time employment after graduation. It stated, “CMNS Associate Dean Robert Infantino said job shortages coincide with the health of the economy and that the government must increase its investments in research and technology.”

back to top

Finding the Right Business Incubator | LaunchHouse | Angel Investment & Seed Capital Fund

Did you know that the first business incubator was started in Batavia, N.Y., in 1956? Joseph Mancuso was the founder, and after seeing newly hatched chicks running around from one of his portfolio companies, he coined the business “incubator”. From there on out business incubators started gaining popularity. There are currently 1,200 in the U.S. They have caught the attention of local governments and universities interested in retaining entrepreneurial talent. An example of this is LaunchHouse’s partnership with the city of Shaker Heights.

back to top

Nancy At Large: Celebrating BioHealth Innovation’s New Headquarters

County Executive Ike Leggett (center) and Councilmembers Nancy Floreen (second from right) and Hans Riemer (right) visited BioHealth Innovation’s Open House on July 23. BioHealth Innovation (BHI) was established as a public-private partnership to accelerate the technology transfer and commercialization of biohealth research in the Central Maryland region. At the event were BHI Chairman Scott Carmer (left) and CEO Rich Bendis (second from left).

I was happy to help celebrate the opening of the BioHealth Innovation’s new headquarters at the historic Wire Hardware Building in Rockville. BHI was established as a public-private partnership to accelerate the technology transfer and commercialization of biohealth research in Maryland, and that’s a great thing for Montgomery County. Congratulations BHI. We’re glad to have you in Rockville.

-Nancy Floreen, Montgomery County Council Member

back to top

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Caps Next Phase Of Development With Move To New Headquarters And Addition Of Staff – MarketWatch

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 that it has located its corporate headquarters in the historic Wire Hardware Building at 22 Baltimore Road in Rockville. BHI also announced the creation of two new staff positions filled by recent hires Ethan Byler as Director of Innovation Programs and Amanda Wilson as Operations Manager.

"Choosing the historic Wire Hardware Building as operational headquarters for BHI is symbolic of the marrying of the deep roots of this region with the untapped potential for truly inspirational advancement of the biohealth industry here, which is a primary goal of BHI," said Richard Bendis, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. President & Chief Executive Officer. "Opening our new offices in Montgomery County and welcoming our new staff are key steps to ensuring the success of BHI and demonstrate our firm commitment to Central Maryland."

back to top

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Moves to New HQ in Rockville

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, has located its corporate headquarters in the Wire Hardware Building at 22 Baltimore Road in Rockville.

BHI also announced the creation of two new staff positions filled by recent hires Ethan Byler as Director of Innovation Programs and Amanda Wilson as Operations Manager.

back to top

BioHealth Innovation seeks to help Maryland companies secure more funding – Baltimore Business Journal

BioHealth Innovation Inc. is adding staff and office space to expand its operations in central Maryland.

The Rockville-based organization has created a new position, director of innovation programs, to lead the organization’s effort to help Maryland companies get a greater share of federal funding intended for near-commercialization projects. BioHealth Innovation is a public-private nonprofit organization that helps biohealth companies access funding to commercialize research and connects research outlets with the biotech industry.

back to top

Executive Breakfast Brings Campus Companies Together

When it comes to the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus, membership truly does have its privileges. And the 26 attendees of the recent Executive Breakfast can certainly tell you a thing or two about it. Representatives from 10 of the companies housed on the campus, as well as one potential new company, gathered to provide updates on company activities and to learn more about BioHealth Innovation, Inc., from the organization’s CEO, Rich Bendis.

After a period of networking amongst the attendees, which included Dr. Theodore Abraham, Associate Dean for Research in the Capital Region, Johns Hopkins Medicine, attendees provided information about their research on campus. And each presentation made it clear that members of the community are applying their expertise to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. They are reaching across the borders of not only Maryland but the United States and the world. International activities included Open Health Systems Laboratory’s ties in India and TruBios’ work in Latin and South America.

back to top

Congratulations to BioHealth Innovation Inc. on Its New Home

Yesterday it was a pleasure to attend the BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) open house at the historic Wire Hardware Building in Rockville to celebrate the opening of the organization’s new headquarters. At the Open House, BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis welcomed guests and introduced Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett who talked about the important role of BHI and this industry – not just for the county, but for the entire state of Maryland.

back to top

Richard Bendis of BHI interviewed at BIO International Convention

back to top

GlaxoSmithKline to buy Human Genome Sciences for $14.25 per share – Washington Business Journal

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences Inc., which rejected a $13-per-share takeover offer from GlaxoSmithKline PLC as too low, has accepted a $14.25 per share offer from its lupus drug development partner. The handshake brings to a close a monthslong, sometimes tense struggle for control of the company.

Glaxo announced Monday that Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) had agreed to its offer to acquire the company in a $3.6 billion squirt transaction that values Human Genome at $3 billion net of cash and debt.

back to top

MedImmune to close Santa Clara and Mountain View sites, but will keep Hayward open as it cuts 200 jobs – San Jose Mercury News

MedImmune will chop 200 jobs and close its Mountain View and Santa Clara locations, but will beef up its Hayward site, the provider of vaccines said.

The changes are part of a wrenching restructuring of the MedImmune infectious disease and vaccines research and development operations.

back to top

Noble Partners with BioFactura to Offer Cell Line Development and Preclinical Protein Production Services

Noble Life Sciences, Inc., a preclinical drug development contract research organization (CRO), announced a partnership with BioFactura, Inc. (Rockville, MD), a developer and provider of proprietary technologies and services for production of biologicals.

The collaboration expands Noble’s CRO services to include the development and production of monoclonal antibody and other protein-based drugs. Through the partnership, Noble becomes the exclusive commercial contract services provider of BioFactura’s technologies and capabilities.

back to top

New Enterprise Associates closes 14th fund at $2.6 billion, amid shift in leadership – Washington Business Journal

Chevy Chase-based New Enterprise Associates has closed on what appears to be the largest venture fund in history at $2.6 billion, the firm announced Wednesday.

NEA’s 14th fund gives the VC titan a fresh pool of capital to inject into tech companies along a wide array of stages, sectors and geographies, and comes two and a half years after the firm closed on a thirteenth fund that was only slightly less mammoth. NEA is among the most prolific startup funders in the D.C. region, both in biotech and information technology.

back to top

QIAGEN Reports Second Quarter 2012 Results, Raises Full-Year Outlook and Announces Share Repurchase Program – MarketWatch

QIAGEN N.V. announced results of operations for the second quarter and first half of 2012, delivering a solid performance and making significant progress on strategic initiatives to drive innovation and growth. QIAGEN also raised the outlook for full-year net sales and adjusted EPS targets and announced a program to repurchase up to $100 million of its shares.

In the second quarter of 2012, net sales grew 9% (+14% at constant exchange rates, or CER) to $307.2 million from the same period in 2011, as all customer classes, particularly Molecular Diagnostics and Applied Testing, and all regions recorded growth. Adjusted operating income rose 10% to $86.4 million, as the adjusted operating income margin was steady at 28% of net sales. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) grew to $0.25 from $0.23 in the 2011 quarter.

back to top

Baltimore biotechs seek staff

If you’ve recently asked yourself, or someone standing next to you, “Where are all the biotech jobs?” it’s a good thing you’re reading this now.

While surveying for our latest annual Top 25 List of biotechnology companies in the Baltimore area, I asked each company whether they’re hiring any time soon, and all of these below said yes:

back to top

Undergrads Invent Cell Phone Screener to Combat Anemia in Developing World

Could a low-cost screening device connected to a cell phone save thousands of women and children from anemia-related deaths and disabilities?

That’s the goal of Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering undergraduates who’ve developed a noninvasive way to identify women with this dangerous blood disorder in developing nations. The device, HemoGlobe, is designed to convert the existing cell phones of health workers into a “prick-free” system for detecting and reporting anemia at the community level.

back to top

Venture capital falls off its own fiscal cliff in Maryland

Venture capital investment in Maryland companies in the second quarter plummeted to its lowest level in almost 16 years, according to a new report.

In eight deals, investors pumped $25.5 million into state businesses during the quarter. It was the first time such investments have fallen below $30 million since the fourth quarter of 1996, when eight deals totaling $16 million were made, according to the new MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

back to top

Baltimore’s first accelerator class ready to graduate; one company heads to San Francisco

How time flies.

Just last year, many of us in the Baltimore technology community were talking about whether our city needed an accelerator program. The Emerging Technology Center, with the help of the Abell Foundation, stepped up and provided one.

The first class of four companies graduate tomorrow. And one of the graduates, NoBadGift.com, is moving out to San Francisco for three months to be a part of the NewMe accelerator program. Great news for that team of three entrepreneurs.

back to top

How a "Serious Game" Could Transform Bioscience Education

Admit it. You enjoy working in science, but weren’t always captivated by how it was taught. You aren’t alone. Studies show that when students lose interest in science coursework the problem is often how science is taught – not science itself. Teachers lack the interesting curriculum and adequate support needed to provide engaging and intriguing coursework. The lack of interest among science students leaves them disinterested, bored, and unprepared to meet the challenges of a technology-driven future.

These findings have real-world consequences. Despite the heroic efforts of talented U.S. science teachers, many of our brightest young students migrate away from the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career paths that could power America’s 21st century competitiveness.

back to top

BCCC wins $600,000 grant to prepare students for STEM careers – Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore City Community College has won nearly $600,000 in federal funding to recruit and prepare minority students for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

back to top

Scheer, JBG resurrect $100M real estate fund – Washington Business Journal

Scheer Partners Inc. and The JBG Cos. are reviving a $100 million real estate fund they established in 2008 to invest in life science properties.

Rockville-based Scheer, a broker for biotech and medical real estate, and the Chevy Chase developer had set up the Greater Washington Life Sciences Fund just as the recession kicked into gear. After buying one 53,000-square-foot property at 21 Firstfield Road in Gaithersburg, the partnership essentially went into hibernation.

back to top

5 Best (and Worst) Places in the U.S. To Find a Tech Job

Technology job openings surged by 8.2% in June, according to job-search site SimplyHired, but some places remain better than others if you’re looking for a tech job. The site’s top and bottom five contain a few surprises.

SimplyHired bases its ranking on the number of tech job openings compared to the number of people who are working in the region. The numbers below are based on metropolitan areas as defined by the U.S. census bureau.

1. Baltimore, Maryland (46,150 people employed, 14,093 tech job openings): Hunter Sherman, the chief engineer at Sparks, Maryland-based BizBrag, Inc., said the company is struggling to find qualified people to fill its jobs. As a result, BizBrag is planning to move. “A big part of our issue is that we’re just north of the city, and a majority of the engineers are located to the south, closer to the D.C. area,” Sherman said. “This is one of the major reasons that we plan on moving our business into the city in the coming months.”

back to top

The University of Maryland goes smoke-free – Washington DC College admissions

This week, the University System of Maryland (USM) announced that smoking would no longer be permitted on any of the 12 USM campuses, including the flagship University of Maryland at College Park.

The policy, which will take effect on June 30, 2013, prohibits smoking on campus grounds, outdoor structures, and in school vehicles. Each university president, however, will be able to designate a “very limited area” where smoking may occur without interfering with the health of others.

back to top

Patent Docs: Grants for Funding University Technology Transfer Introduced in Congress

Companion bills were introduced in Congress on April 25th of this year with little fanfare (particularly in comparison to the Leahy-Smith American Invents Act) but they have the potential to provide significant funding for university-related start-up companies.  The bills, H.R. 4720 and S. 2369, are entitled the "America Innovates Act of 2012" and are sponsored by Reps. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Timothy Bishop (D-NY) in the House of Representatives and Sens. Frank Lautenberg, Jerrod Brown (D-OH), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate.  They have been referred to their respective committees (the House Sub-Committee on Technology and Innovation and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation), but to be frank it is unlikely that they will receive positive action in this election year.

back to top

SBIR rules could open R&D funds to foreign-owned companies

Proposed rules for the Small Business Innovation Research program could allow foreign-owned companies to compete for these federal R&D awards, according to the Small Business Technology Council.

“This change has the potential of sending hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars to businesses overseas,” SBTC Executive Director Jere Glover wrote in letters to Congress and President Barack Obama. “Products developed and manufactured by foreign firms with U.S. tax dollars are likely to benefit their own countries, to the detriment of American businesses.”

back to top

Humana Sponsors Blueprint Health Accelerator Program

Humana Inc. continues its commitment to innovation, health and well-being by partnering with Blueprint Health and working together to spark change and make a meaningful impact on the health care community.

As the exclusive health insurance platinum sponsor of the summer 2012 Blueprint Health Accelerator, Humana will work closely with program participants and other health care entrepreneurs, investors, executives and innovators that serve as mentors to the community. Blueprint Health kicked off its summer session on July 16; the intensive program provides seed capital, office space, and most critically, access to a broad range of mentors with deep healthcare, start-up and technology experience.

back to top

Johns Hopkins joins venture to offer free online courses – Baltimore Business Journal

Johns Hopkins University and 11 other universities are teaming up with a for-profit company founded by two Stanford University computer science professors to offer free Internet courses worldwide, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The schools joined four others already working with Coursera, a for-profit education technology company, which will offer over 100 online courses beginning this fall, the WSJ reported.

back to top

Maryland receives 125 applications for $8M in biotech tax credits – Washington Business Journal

Maryland received more than 125 applications on Monday for $8 million available through the state’s popular biotechnology tax credit program.

The online registration for the fiscal year 2013 credits was rescheduled from July 2 due to mass power outages in the state.

back to top

QIAGEN Achieves Personalized Healthcare Milestone with U.S. Approval of Companion Diagnostic for Colorectal Cancer – MarketWatch

U.S. launch of therascreen® KRAS RGQ PCR Kit offers enhanced approach to guide treatments for approximately 110,000 patients annually in U.S. with colorectal cancer.

First FDA approval of a QIAGEN companion diagnostic marks a milestone in its global expansion of rapidly growing Personalized Healthcare business.

Important cancer assay adds valuable content for an expanding QIAGEN automation platform QIAGEN N.V. today announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market the therascreen® KRAS RGQ PCR Kit (therascreen KRAS test) to provide guidance on the use of Erbitux® (cetuximab) as a treatment in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

back to top

Maryland Venture Fund names Thomas Dann as head – Washington Business Journal

Maryland has named a longtime venture capitalist to head its program for investing in startups and early-stage companies.

Thomas Dann, founder and managing director at CastleHaven Advisors LLC, a D.C. private-equity firm, was named managing director of the Maryland Venture Fund.

back to top

University of Maryland Leadership Shows as State Named #1 in Entrepreneurship and Innovation :: University Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland

A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report names Maryland the #1 state in the nation for entrepreneurship and innovation. The annual report on 2012 Enterprising States, also ranked Maryland #1 in academic research and development and #3 in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs and in the concentration of high-tech business locations.

"We are very pleased to see the State of Maryland receive this distinction," said University of Maryland Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer Dr. Patrick O’Shea. "This national recognition reflects the efforts of the Governor and General Assembly to promote innovation across the state, the tireless work of the state’s successful businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as the University of Maryland’s dedication to creating a culture of entrepreneurship among our faculty, students and alumni."

back to top

Human Genome Science looks to expand biotech sales jobs with new anthrax treatment

As more drug manufacturers fight for a share of the market, those with biotech sales jobs understand that their companies’ success lies in its ability to develop innovative new products. Now, Maryland-based Human Genome Sciences has announced its breakthrough treatment for inhalational anthrax is one step closer to commercialization.

The company said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged receipt of its resubmission of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for raxibacumab, a human monoclonal antibody that differs from other treatments because it targets anthrax toxins after they are released by bacteria into the blood and tissues of the body.

back to top

Human Genome Sciences Announces Resubmission of Raxibacumab BLA to FDA

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged receipt of the resubmission of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for raxibacumab, a treatment for inhalational anthrax, and has established December 15, 2012 as the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date.

The FDA has deemed the resubmission a complete, class 2 response to its November 14, 2009 complete response letter, which requested further analyses of existing data as well as additional information.

back to top

Maryland biotech investment program sees dip from last year

Fewer prospective investors applied for a share of Maryland’s $8 million in biotechnology investment tax credits Monday morning than a year ago, state officials reported.

Last year, the state received more than 180 applications from likely investors in qualifying Maryland biotechs within the first three minutes of the program’s annual online launch. On Monday, the state reported more than 125 registrations, which actually are made by the respective biotechs, between 9 a.m. and noon — more than the 115 applications received on the first day in 2010 but fewer than in 2011.

back to top

New Johns Hopkins center to focus on broad use of health IT tools – FierceHealthIT

Johns Hopkins University is creating a new center to help public health agencies and accountable provider or payer groups better take advantage of health IT technologies.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT, or CPHIT, is intended to broaden the focus of health IT systems including electronic health records and e-health beyond clinicians treating individual patients, says Jonathan Weiner, director of the new center. The idea is to "harness these health IT systems to create solutions for the many population health issues facing our nation," he says in a July 11 announcement.

back to top

Johns Hopkins Community helps scientists – Wes Blakeslee – Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer – YouTube

What kind of community does Johns Hopkins offer for a scientist?

An excerpt of an interview in November of 2011, with Wes Blakeslee, Executive Director of Johns Hopkins Tech Transfer. In this segment, Wes talks about the unique environment that Johns Hopkins offers. Have lunch with a Nobel Prize winner. Be with the best of the best.

back to top

Wesley Blakeslee from Johns Hopkins University Tech. Transfer, “The Business Concierge to Johns Hopkins University” Video Interview at BioMaryland Booth at BIO International 2012 | Stock News Now

The Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office (JHTT) is the University’s intellectual property administration center, serving Johns Hopkins researchers and inventors as a licensing, patent, and technology commercialization office and acting as an active liaison to parties interested in leveraging JHU research or materials for academic or corporate endeavors. SNNLive spoke with Wesley Blakeslee, Executive Director of Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office at the BioMaryland booth at the BIO International Convention 2012 in Boston, MA.

back to top

M&T tops in small business lending in Baltimore area – Baltimore Business Journal

Looking for a small-business loan? Then you might want to check out a new report from the U.S. Small Business Administration about which lenders have been the most active in the Baltimore area in the past nine months.

SBA’s Baltimore regional office found that M&T Bank was the biggest lender under SBA’s flagship 7(a) loans program for the period from Oct. 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. That’s no surprise, since M&T, the second-largest bank in Greater Baltimore, has been the leading lender in the region for the past several years under the program. M&T wrote 157 loans totaling more than $17 million during the nine-month period under the 7(a) program, which guarantees loans for working capital, inventory and equipment.

back to top

United snags Glaxo buildings as it completes expansion – FiercePharma Manufacturing

Even as it completes an expansion in North Carolina, United Therapeutics is picking up for future use three buildings and a large parcel of land left idle by GlaxoSmithKline.

"We haven’t finalized our plans for the properties acquired from GSK," Andrew Fisher, chief strategy officer and deputy general counsel, says in an email to FiercePharmaManufacturing.

back to top

HHS Innovation Fellows Program

HHS has begun exploring ways to bring entrepreneurial spirit to provide fresh, innovative approaches to agencies. HHS already has the strong assets and the leadership to create and develop new products; The Innovation Fellows Program aims to bring external ideas and expertise into HHS’s own innovation process and rapidly create, develop, engage and accelerate innovation.

Startup organizations have demonstrated that rapid iteration between various versions or features of a product can yield successful results: HHS would like to boost innovation by working with external expertise to create a culture that encourages risk taking and dynamic new models of business.

Download Flyer

back to top

Obama Signs FDA Bill | The Scientist

President Barack Obama signed the US Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187) into law, reauthorizing user fees that the FDA charges pharmaceutical and device manufacturers as they gain approval for their products.

The law also establishes a new user fee program—raised as part of Obama’s newly-legitimized health care legislation—that will require companies making generic versions of protein-based drugs, or biologics, called biosimilars, to pay upon approval of their generic products. The newly signed law also makes several changes to FDA policy meant to speed the approval process for drugs and devices, enacts changes aimed to increase the safety of the drug supply chain, and incentivizes the development of new antibiotics.

back to top

MedStartr Offers Crowdfunding for Health IT Firms, Including Itself | Xconomy

A couple years ago, when Alex Fair was tossing around ideas on how to raise money for his new healthcare marketplace, FairCareMD, he knew that putting the startup on the uber-popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter would be out of the question. Kickstarter has collected $250 million for 24,000 projects since it was founded three years ago, but virtually none of that has gone to health-related companies. “I said, ‘Hey, there’s an opportunity here,’” Fair says. “No one’s really doing health care crowdfunding.”

Enter MedStartr, Fair’s New York-based site that’s making its debut today. MedStartr allows entrepreneurs to find backers for healthcare technologies and services. The site, which Fair says ran a brief alpha test starting in April, is launching with six projects, including MedStartr itself. During that early project, which was designed to test the concept, Fair was surprised to find MedStartr was able to raise enough capital to run the company. “Of the 71 people we invited to view the alpha, six invested,” he says. It’s a sign, he believes, that “crowdfunding has hit the public consciousness.”

back to top

Early stage fundraising by venture firms doubles, health IT companies likely to benefit

Venture capital fundraising for early stage funds doubled in the first half of the year to $3 billion compared with the same period last year, according to a report by Dow Jones.

Among the firms that have raised funds were Felicis Ventures, a well-respected early stage investment group with a new $70 million fund targeting bioinformatics, and other sectors.

Healthcare IT companies are likely to benefit from the increase as healthcare facilities shift to electronic medical records.

back to top

Statement from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the signing of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act

Today, the President signed into law S. 3187, the “Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.”  This legislation, which passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, will help speed safe and effective medical products to patients and maintain our Nation’s role as a leader in biomedical innovation.

S. 3187 is the culmination of the work of the administration and Congress, in partnership with patients, the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, the clinical community, and other stakeholders, to provide the Food and Drug Administration with the tools needed to continue to bring drugs and devices to market safely and quickly and promote innovation in the biomedical industry, and to help secure the jobs supported by drug and device development.

back to top

From Bench to Bunker – The Chronicle Review

In a small, anonymous office in the Trump Tower, 28 floors above Wall Street, a man sits in front of a computer screen sifting through satellite images of a foreign desert. The images depict a vast, sandy emptiness, marked every so often by dunes and hills. He is searching for man-made structures: houses, compounds, airfields, any sign of civilization that might be visible from the sky. The images flash at a rate of 20 per second, so fast that before he can truly perceive the details of each landscape, it is gone. He pushes no buttons, takes no notes. His performance is near perfect.

Or rather, his brain’s performance is near perfect. The man has a machine strapped to his head, an array of electrodes called an electroencephalogram, or EEG, which is recording his brain activity as each image skips by. It then sends the brain-activity data wirelessly to a large computer. The computer has learned what the man’s brain activity looks like when he sees one of the visual targets, and, based on that information, it quickly reshuffles the images. When the man sorts back through the hundreds of images—most without structures, but some with—almost all the ones with buildings in them pop to the front of the pack. His brain and the computer have done good work.

back to top

“Maryland, Paris Medicen to Partner on Disease Research and Translational Medicine” Video Interview at BIO International Convention 2012 | Stock News Now

SNNLive had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Judith Britz, Executive Director of Maryland Biotechnology Center and Francois Chevillard, CEO of the Medicen Paris Region to announce the two organizations’ Memorandum of Understanding at the BIO International Convention 2012 in Boston, MA.

The Maryland Biotechnology Center is an organization within the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) that consolidates and coordinates a host of state, university and private sector initiatives to better showcase and support biotechnology innovation and entrepreneurship in Maryland. The Medicen Paris Region facilitates the transfer of innovation to industry, the market and patients in human healthcare sectors.

back to top

Venture Debt: Under-Appreciated Tool for Building Biotechs – Forbes

Cash-burning R&D-stage biotechs have big appetites for cash, which is typically addressed with an equity-based diet.  It’s also supported through corporate partnerships and other less dilutive means such as grants and foundation funding.  But another important and often under-appreciated source of capital are the debt markets – taking a loan out to provide working capital for further R&D.

One might ask why and how a company that won’t have profits for a decade can raise any money through the issuance of debt, but it happens frequently, and the “venture lending” business is actually very robust.  Players like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Oxford Finance, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, and Horizon Technology Finance (and many others) are all very active supporters of emerging life science companies.

back to top

East Coast accelerator DreamIt Ventures moving into healthcare IT

Healthcare IT has become a new priority for East Coast accelerator DreamIt Ventures with the hire of a veteran angel investor group director.

Karen Griffith Gryga recently joined the accelerator’s Philadelphia office. Earlier this year it added a minority-led business component and started a program to work with startups based in Israel.

She has worked as executive director of Mid-Atlantic Angel Group, which has invested in life science and technology companies.

back to top

Mass Life Sciences Center launches new accelerator – Mass High Tech Business News

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ quasi-public agency, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, has opened its 2012-2013 Accelerator Loan Program, the agency announced Monday.

MLSC launched the program in 2009 as a way to help startup businesses who need working capital or funding to pay for capital assets. A loan of up to $1 million per company is provided, an increase from the maximum amount of $750,000 offered in the past. The decision to increase the amount available was made during a June meeting of the board of directors, according to Angus McQuilken, vice president of communications at the MLSC. Companies still will only be able to borrow a dollar-for-dollar match, he said.

back to top

BIO Report on University and Non-Profit Inventions

On June 21 the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), which represents biotechnology companies, issued a report on the economic impact of patent licensing from universities and non-profit institutions (PDF), analyzing data from 1996 to 2010 gathered by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). The data show that patent licensing resulting from federally-funded research at universities and non-profits resulted in contributions to GDP somewhere between $86 billion and $388 billion in 2005 U.S. dollars, and between 900,000 to 3,000,000 person-years of employment in that period.

back to top

Gates Foundation, pharma cos to spur TB care | Deccan Chronicle

Seven pharmaceutical companies and four research institutions, working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have launched a groundbreaking partnership, to expedite the discovery of new treatments for tuberculosis. The partnership, known as the TB Drug Accelerator (TBDA), will target the discovery of new TB drugs by collaborating on an early-stage research. The long-term goal of the TBDA is to create a drug regimen that cures patients in just one month. Existing drugs, which are all at least 50 years old, require six months to cure the disease — a lengthy process, during which at least 20 to 30 per cent of patients end up discontinuing the treatment before the completion of the course.

back to top

Who’s Still Active Among the Early-Stage Biotech VCs? | Xconomy

Imagine for a moment you’re a hotshot biomedical scientist at a university. You have invented a technology in your lab that you think has potential to make a big difference for the world of medicine. Despite all the accolades you might be getting in Nature, you are savvy enough to know you still have a pretty raw concept. Your idea needs someone who can build a business around it, and invest a lot of time, money, and talent to prove it’s the real thing.

Who would you call?

There aren’t that many people who you can call anymore, and the number is shrinking. This question has been gnawing at me for a while, as I’ve sought to understand the historic contraction that’s occurring in the biotech venture capital business, and what effect it will have on the biotech industry’s ability to turn bright ideas into valuable new healthcare products.

back to top

Md. launches a venture capital initiative | WashingtonExaminer.com

Maryland’s secretary for business and economic development rallied Lower Shore leaders behind a state venture capital initiative that seeks to invest millions of dollars into companies and entrepreneurs with innovative ideas.

The state is poised to award a total of $84 million raised through an online tax credit auction earlier this year, but Lower Shore companies that don’t apply cannot benefit from the infusion known as InvestMaryland, Christian S. Johansson, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, told leaders gathered in Salisbury on Monday to unveil the new facility of the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

back to top

Annual Postdoc Conference & Career Fair – Postdoc Conference and Career Fair

July 12, 2012 – Bethesda North Marriott/Montgomery County Conference Center

A conference and career fair for current postdoctoral fellows working in Washington, D.C. area federal labs and universities, and for companies recruiting high-level S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals.

This event exposes area postdoctoral fellows in the S.T.E.M. fields to the many career options (e.g., government, private sector, entrepreneurship) that are available to them.

The career fair portion connects local job-seeking postdocs with companies seeking that level of talent.

back to top

HHS Innovation Fellows Program

HHS has begun exploring ways to bring entrepreneurial spirit to provide fresh, innovative approaches to agencies. HHS already has the strong assets and the leadership to create and develop new products; The Innovation Fellows Program aims to bring external ideas and expertise into HHS’s own innovation process and rapidly create, develop, engage and accelerate innovation.

Startup organizations have demonstrated that rapid iteration between various versions or features of a product can yield successful results: HHS would like to boost innovation by working with external expertise to create a culture that encourages risk taking and dynamic new models of business.

Download Flyer

back to top

Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Inks Business Partnership with BioHealth Innovation to Bring Health and Life Sciences Research to Market – MarketWatch

The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) announced today that it has completed a formal agreement to serve as Greater Baltimore’s primary business partner with BioHealth Innovation (BHI), Maryland’s private-public collaborative that focuses on commercializing market-relevant bio health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in central Maryland.

BHI is the first regionally focused innovation intermediary created to connect the university and hospital bio health research strengths of Baltimore with the bioscience industry and federal laboratory strengths of Montgomery County.

back to top

Bendis brings entrepreneurial bent to Maryland’s bioscience sector

Innovation and creation are at the heart of the biotech industry and close to the heart of international business development consultant Richard A. Bendis.

Bendis, 65, has devoted almost 40 years to helping enterprises grow, in both the public and private sector.

Most recently, Bendis was named CEO of the new regional effort to foster commercialization of federal and university laboratory innovations and increase access to early-stage funding for biotechs. BioHealth Innovation of Rockville is a nonprofit private-public partnership that leverages the resources of several biotechs and research institutions, including the University System of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region.

back to top

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AND FRAUNHOFER HEINRICH HERTZ INSTITUTE SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU), America’s first research university, in Baltimore, Md., USA, and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), a mobile and information technology development leader based in Berlin, Germany, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly research the innovative medical applications of integrated optical sensors: small, highly sensitive devices with disease-recognition capabilities.

Under the terms of this agreement — signed on June 19 at the 2012 BIO International Convention in Boston, Mass., USA — the two entities will study how the technology developed by HHI can be used in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers with clinical expertise in a variety of specialty areas, including oncology and infectious diseases, will collaborate with HHI’s scientists and engineers.

back to top

UMB BioPark signs Biogen Diagnostics, Global Scientific as tenants – Baltimore Business Journal

Two new companies are moving in to the University of Maryland    BioPark, university officials said Tuesday.

Biogen Diagnostics Ltd., based in the United Kingdom, has opened a satellite office at the BioPark. Global Scientific Solutions for Health Inc., a new laboratory testing company that operates in southeast Asia and Africa, has set up its headquarters there.

The 12-acre west side BioPark houses life sciences companies that work with University of Maryland researchers. BioPark leaders said they want to attract international companies to broaden the reach of the university’s research and the BioPark’s development beyond the Baltimore region.

back to top

Montgomery County biotech initiatives, companies shine at BIO 2012

As you may know, the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development (MCDED) led the County’s participation at the 2012 BIO International Convention held June 18-21 in Boston, MA.

Our team of business development professionals participated in dozens of business partnering forum meetings with national and international biotech companies during the course of the Convention.  On June 19,  MCDED held a press conference from the floor of the BIOMaryland Pavilion, kicked off by Human Genome Sciences CEO and Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Board Chairman Tom Watkins and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett.  The press conference highlighted the success of the County’s biotech investment incentive program – the nation’s ONLY such local program which helped spur more than $6 million in investments to 10 County-based biotech companies in 2011 –  and the creation of the County-inspired, regional biotech intermediary BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI).  BHI is chaired by Scott Carmer, Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations, MedImmune and sponsored by Human Genome Sciences and several other local private-sector companies and academic institutions.  The press conference also featured a panel, moderated by MedImmune CEO Peter Greenleaf, of County-based, serial biotech entrepreneurs discussing why and how they started companies in Montgomery County.

back to top

Maryland reaches for spotlight at Biotechnology Industry Organization convention

Maryland’s biotechs continued to leave their mark on the industry at this week’s global convention in Boston, with several executives claiming prominent board positions and a new report showing the state outpacing national growth in life science employment.

More than 15,000 executives and others were expected at this year’s Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention, which started Monday and ended Thursday. More than 31 state companies sought the world’s attention at the Bio Maryland 2012 pavillion, which the state also had at last year’s convention in Washington, D.C.

back to top

Maryland forms biotech partnership with Paris – Baltimore Business Journal

Maryland’s economic development office has formed a partnership with a Paris region to team on disease research and translational medicine.

The letter of intent for the partnership was signed Wednesday at the Bio 2012 International Convention in Boston by Christian Johansson, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and Paris Medicen Del. Gen. Francois Chevillard. The Paris Medicen region is considered a life sciences hub in France’s capital city.

back to top

Emergent BioSolutions to develop HHS innovation center – Washington Business Journal

Rockville-based Emergent BioSolutions Inc.    has formed a public-private partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing.

The contract has an initial run of eight years worth $220 million with up to 17 additional one-year options. The partnership, with HHS’s Biomedial Advanced Research and Development Authority, will initially develop a new pandemic influenza vaccine and construct facilities to produce it.

back to top

United Therapeutics Announces Additional $100 Million Share Repurchase Program

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) today announced  that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $100 million of the company’s common stock.  This program will become effective on July 31, 2012, and will remain open for up to one year.  Purchases may be made in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions from time to time as determined by United Therapeutics’ management and in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also announced that it had recently completed its previously-announced $300 million repurchase program by purchasing 2,045,192 shares of common stock for $88 million during the second quarter of 2012.

back to top

QIAGEN Unveils Initiative to Create Next-Generation Sequencing Portfolio for use in Clinical Research and Molecular Diagnostics – MarketWatch

Aim to expand next-generation sequencing beyond current focus on life sciences research.

QIAGEN plans to offer sample-to-result workflows that integrate its sample preparation and assay products with a next-generation benchtop sequencer and new bioinformatics

Initiative combines broad range of QIAGEN products with acquisition of sequencing specialist Intelligent Bio-Systems, Inc. and a new strategic collaboration with SAP AG QIAGEN N.V. QGEN today unveiled an advanced initiative to enter the field of next-generation sequencing (NGS) that aims to establish these technologies as routine processes used in new areas such as clinical research and molecular diagnostics.

back to top

MEDIMMUNE MANUFACTURING FACILITY RECOGNIZED AS 2011 FACILITY OF THE YEAR IN PHARMACEUTICAL ENGINEERING « MedImmune Social Media Press Room

MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that the company’s expansion project at its Frederick, Md., Manufacturing Center (FMC) won the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering’s overall 2011 Facility of the Year Award.  This is the first time MedImmune has won this prestigious internationally renowned accolade.    

The annual Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA), sponsored by the ISPE, INTERPHEX and Pharmaceutical Processing magazine, recognizes state-of-the-art projects utilizing new, innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines, and demonstrate advances in project delivery.

back to top

Human Genome Sciences sets acquisition deadline – Pharmaceutical Technology

US biotechnology firm Human Genome Sciences (HGS) has set a deadline of 16 July 2012 for offers to acquire the company, but has failed to tempt GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) into the process.

HGS has undertaken the strategic alternative review to sound out potential buyers who now have until the deadline to submit definitive proposals to purchase all outstanding common shares in the company.

The company adopted the strategy immediately after GSK made its offer to acquire HGS, valuing the company at $2.6bn.

back to top

Academics, entrepreneurs represent Md. at BIO MDBIZNews

Each year, the University of Maryland business development team looks forward to spending three days in early summer at arguably the most significant annual event for the life sciences industry: the BIO International Convention. Held this year in Boston, the convention brings together industry executives with corporate and academic scientists in an ideal forum for networking and marketing within the biotech industry.

The audience is ideal for the work of the university, the BioPark and the state. One of our primary objectives as attendees and exhibitors is to market the pipeline of UM bioscience technologies available for licensing. Over the course of the convention, one-on-one partnering sessions will allow our tech transfer team to conduct as many as 20 key meetings to market therapeutics; vaccines; drug targets in oncology, neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmune disorders, infectious disease; and devices. We’ll also engage with existing bioscience and pharma partners to promote and expand funding of research and clinical trial contracts with UM’s bioscience faculty and clinicians. Our final focus will be marketing the BioPark as an ideal location for bioscience companies and promoting the Park’s existing base of nearly two dozen bioscience companies. Several existing tenant companies, including Paragon Biosciences, SNBL, Vigilant Bioservices, Gliknik and Ablitech will join us at the show.

back to top

JHU Center for Biotechnology Education Hosts Inaugural Bioentrepreneurship Education Conference

The Johns Hopkins Center for Biotechnology Education (CBE) welcomed more than 20 academicians onto campus last weekend for the 1st Annual International Bioentrepreneurship Education Conference (BEC). During the one-day event, bioentrepreneurship education leaders from as far away as South Africa, South Wales, Sweden and Denmark – as well as a number of stateside leaders – met to share information and assess where bioentrepreneurship education currently stands.

One of the biggest takeaways: Similar to entrepreneurs, academic leaders are concerned about funding resources. In the case of academia, the concern was identifying resources that can help support these exciting, and in many cases, new programs.

back to top

University of Baltimore gets $1M gift from Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons – Baltimore Business Journal

University of Baltimore is getting a new digital communication program, courtesy of a $1 million donation from Go Daddy founder and UB alum Bob Parsons.

The gift will establish a new professorship in digital communication and support on-campus and online lectures by Parsons.

back to top

Startup Maryland to host biz plan competition MDBIZNews

The entrepreneur support and advocacy group founded this spring will crisscross the state on a two-and-a-half-week bus tour in September. The trip starts Sept. 11 with a trek to Ocean City and is scheduled to wrap up Sept. 28 in Howard County after canvassing the rest of the state.

At stops along the way, Startup Maryland will roll out the first round of its business pitch competition. Organizers said they are still working out how much prize money will be distributed and how it will be divvied up.

back to top

Johns Hopkins Medicine Awarded $19.9M Innovation Grant from CMS for its J-CHiP Program

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Health System (together known as Johns Hopkins Medicine, or JHM), has been awarded a $19.9 million grant by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), over a three-year period, to improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivered to JHM patients.

The grant is part of CMS’s $1 billion Healthcare Innovation Challenge, a competitive initiative that seeks to identify and support innovative opportunities to improve care delivery and achieve its three-part aim of “improving the individual experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita costs of care for populations.”

back to top

New video game from MdBio targets biotech’s next-generation work force

Trying to meet the future work force where it is, some Maryland biotech executives are backing a unique strategy to help market an educational video game to students.

A version of one game, developed by Hunt Valley gaming company BreakAway Ltd., is being previewed at the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention this week in Boston. The MdBio Foundation, an affiliate of the Tech Council of Maryland, will offer the game to science teachers free of charge beginning next year, with help from financial partners.

back to top

MedStartr Thinks Crowdfunding Will Work For Med-Tech – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ

Crowdfunding—the new, hip way to raise money for early-stage technologies and interesting projects—has found a happy home in the world of high-tech, where many people are eager to experiment with new models and new approaches.

But can the same model work for the much stodgier health-care industry?

The founders of MedStartr, a crowdfunding platform for medical technologies, say that it will. On the 4th of July, the site will go live, with dozens of health-related technologies and services looking for benefactors.

back to top

Pharma Seeks a Drug Discovery Fix  – Technology Review

The drug discovery business is going through tough times. Drug candidates aren’t moving through the pharmaceutical industry’s pipelines fast enough. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs struggle to get the funding they need to bring their new ideas to fruition. These issues are driving new alliances and partnerships between academic researchers, venture capitalists, and big pharma, but whether the new models will solve the problem was a question on the minds of many of the 15,000 attendees at this week’s BIO International Convention in Boston.

The themes are familiar: venture capitalists are limiting their investments in biotech, in part because it’s hard for fledgling life-science companies to go public, and although big pharma is desperate for innovative ideas and depends heavily on small biotechs for new drug candidates, these larger companies don’t want to take on risky, early-stage projects. The new alliances, some of which involve direct collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and academics, are a response to what one panelist called this "crisis."

back to top

Where digital deals are done: A list of digital health investments by state

At least 68 “big” deals — investments of at least $2 million — have been done in digital health so far in 2012, according to a new report by the healthcare accelerator Rock Health. Nineteen states were in on the action.

Not so surprising, California lead the way in both the number of deals done and the overall investment. And traditional healthcare investing strongholds like Massachusetts were among those that did the most deals. But there were lesser known regions involved as well that invested significant dollars and did a notable number of deals, namely Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Connecticut.

Here’s a list of every region that did digital health deals so far this year.

back to top

These are the 5 biggest digital health investments in 2012 (so far)

At least 68 digital health companies have raised $2 million or more so far this year for a total of $675 million in digital health investments, according to a new report by healthcare accelerator Rock Health.

Look closer, though. Five companies accounted for nearly 40 percent of those total dollars.

It’s clear that patient shopping tools and home health technologies are where the big bets are going. Here’s the breakdown of the Big 5 deals.

back to top

Submitting an SBIR/STTR to NIH? Find the Right “House” | BBC’s Blog

If you are planning to submit an SBIR/STTR proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) before the August 5 deadline, one of your first considerations should be which of its many Institutes/Centers (IC) will be a fit for your project.

The NIH is an umbrella organization with 27 Institutes/Centers within its purview. Even though you submit a single SBIR/STTR application to NIH, your application is typically “housed” in one of the ICs after funding decisions are made. The program managers at each of the ICs are able to provide some feedback on the fit between your SBIR/STTR project and the IC. So here are two BBC tips to get you started.

back to top

Industry Experts Recruited to Grow Bioscience Companies in St. Louis

Four new Entrepreneurs In Residence (EIRs) have joined the BioGenerator, a nonprofit subsidiary of BioSTL, to create, lead, and support new bioscience companies St. Louis. The EIRs will work with existing start-up companies across the region to further their growth and with researchers and entrepreneurs to launch new enterprises.

In just the last two years, BioGenerator’s new programs for pre-seed funding (Spark Fund and i6 Project) and shared laboratory facilities (Accelerator Labs), along with its historical seed funding program, have supported the creation of 17 new bioscience companies in St. Louis, validating the rich supply of bioscience innovation locally. These new EIRs will help to advance the growth of existing companies and assist in the creation of additional regional startups.

back to top

Biotech Tesaro sets terms for $81 million US IPO – NASDAQ.com

Tesaro, a biotech focused on the treatment of chemotherapy-induced symptoms, announced terms for its IPO on Tuesday. The Waltham, MA-based company plans to raise $81 million by offering 6.0 million shares at a price range of $12 to $15. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Tesaro would command a market value of $360 million.

The company’s lead product candidate, rolapitant, is in Phase 3 trials, the results of which are expected in the 2H13. No revenue has been generated to date. Venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates, InterWest Partners and Kleiner Perkins will hold 39%, 10% and 7% post-IPO stakes, respectively. Certain undisclosed insiders have expressed an interest in purchasing approximately $25 million of stock in connection with the offering.

back to top

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Names Richard Bendis President & Chief Executive Officer

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 that its Board of Directors has named former Interim CEO Richard Bendis as the organization’s first President & Chief Executive Officer.

Scott Carmer, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. Chairman of the Board and Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations at MedImmune, said, "The Board unanimously supported the appointment of Rich Bendis as BHI’s President and CEO. As the interim CEO, Rich has been instrumental in establishing BHI, securing significant private and public sector support and funding, and developing and executing on long- and short-term strategic goals. Rich possesses unique knowledge and experience that will allow him to continue BHI’s tremendous momentum to accelerate biohealth commercialization opportunities for Central Maryland."

back to top

MedImmune CEO Peter Greenleaf, Human Genome Sciences CEO Tom Watkins, Montgomery County, Maryland Executive Isiah Leggett Come Together

The Montgomery County Department of Economic Development will host a press event highlighting the nation’s first local biotech investment incentive program, initiated by Montgomery County government, the role local biotech entrepreneurs, many from County-based federal labs like NIH and FDA, play in the success of the sector and a new, regional, industry-sector led intermediary created to bolster technology transfer into commercial success during the BIO International Convention in Boston.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 from 3:00-4:30pm EDT.

WHERE: The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, MA – Maryland Pavilion

WHAT: Press event featuring: MedImmune CEO Peter Greenleaf discussing the growth and success of that company in Montgomery County and that company’s leading role in supporting the newly formed BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) – an industry-lead biotech intermediary; Human Genome Sciences CEO Tom Watkins discussing the growth and success of that company in Montgomery County and the supportive local government and innovative initiatives and policies that support the sector; Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett discussing the success of the County’s local biotech investment incentive program and BHI Board Chair Scott Carmer, Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations for MedImmune and BHI CEO Rich Bendis discussing the early initiatives and successes of that new regional entity in bolstering the success of the region’s biotech sector.

back to top

Human Genome sets deadline for buyout offers – CBS News

Biotech drugmaker Human Genome Sciences Inc. is giving all bidders until July 16 to submit their final buyout offers and appealed to GlaxoSmithKline PLC to participate even though its prior bid was rejected.

The Rockville, Md.-based company said Friday that it is committed to exploring its strategic options.

Human Genome rejected the British pharmaceutical giant’s $13 per share offer last month, saying it was inadequate. At that time the company also adopted a "poison pill" shareholder rights plan in order to ward off any unsolicited takeover bids.

back to top

Maryland entrepreneurs urge culture change – MDBIZNews

A panel of entrepreneurs told the Maryland Economic Development Commission on Tuesday that Maryland needs to commercialize more discoveries made in academic and government labs and improve the entrepreneurial culture if the state hopes to compete with traditional hubs of innovation.

“You ain’t gonna replicate Silicon Valley and Boston in many places around the world. What Maryland has is unrivaled research assets that, basically, most states cannot compete with,” said Rich Bendis, interim CEO of BioHealth Innovation Inc. “The difference is, we’re talking about culture. It’s the entrepreneurial culture that’s different in those other cities.”

Bendis said Maryland’s stature is improving in the eyes of entrepreneurs and those tasked with supporting startups.

back to top

U. of Maryland to Count Patents and Commercialization in Tenure Reviews – Administration – The Chronicle of Higher Education

The University System of Maryland is about to adopt a new policy to formally give credit in tenure and promotion decisions for faculty work that leads to patents and other intellectual property applied in technology transfer.

The new policy, slated for final Board of Regents approval on June 23, is part of the system’s broader push to promote the commercialization of academic research.

Maryland institutions receive a lot of research money but have been "very run of the mill" when it comes to transforming that research into useful products and services, said William E. (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor of the system, in an interview on Wednesday. "The culture of commercializing intellectual property just hasn’t existed in Maryland."

back to top

MdBio Foundation to Launch National Gaming Initiative to Improve U.S. STEM Education – MarketWatch

In response to the declining state of science education in America, MdBio Foundation, Inc. today announced it will provide science teachers and students nationwide with an innovative and immersive educational video game platform free of charge beginning in 2013. The online platform, called MdBioSphere(TM), seeks to advance student comprehension in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and revitalize student interest in science-related careers through the use of innovative gaming technology. The serious game is being developed by Hunt Valley, Md.-based BreakAway, Ltd., and will be previewed at the BIO International Convention (June 18-21, 2012, Booth 0753 in the Maryland Pavilion) in Boston.

"The Foundation believes that creating a globally-competitive U.S. workforce begins in the classroom," said J.J. Finkelstein, chairman of the MdBio Foundation. "The MdBioSphere platform, which will be the first serious game platform to be mapped to the new U.S. science education standards, can be a breakthrough application that helps inspire the next generation of scientists that America needs if we are to compete in the 21st century. The MdBioSphere platform merges the captivating elements of online gaming with educationally-driven STEM curricula to deliver an exciting classroom experience that enriches both students and teachers."

back to top

InvestMaryland preps to dole out $56M to venture capital firms – Washington Business Journal

Maryland officials are preparing to dole out the first investments of the $84 million InvestMaryland program this summer, but they must first whittle down a list of 37 venture capital firm applicants to about half a dozen.

The funding will essentially make the state a limited partner in five to eight VC firms, which will be tasked with routing the funds back into Maryland tech and biotech startups in a traditional VC role. A list of recommended firms is due to be released later this month.

back to top

NCATS Funding Opportunities for Industry Partnerships to Develop Repurposed Drugs

NCATS at the NIH has released two RFAs on Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (UH2/UH3).  Applications are due on December 17, 2012.  

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) seeks to develop a therapeutics discovery pilot program that will explore new therapeutic uses for proprietary drug candidates (Agents) across a broad range of human diseases. This innovative program will match Agents and associated data from pharmaceutical company partners with the best ideas for new therapeutic uses from the biomedical research community.

back to top

Loh Launches UMD Innovation Outreach to Taiwan, Korea :: University Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh is extending his Asia strategy with an innovation tour of Taiwan and South Korea. In his third trip to the region, Loh is laying the groundwork for new research and educational partnerships through sessions with high-level government, industry and academic officials.

Follow Loh’s live blog from Asia: http://ter.ps/vt

"Science and education transcend borders," Loh says. "A premier innovation and entrepreneurship university needs to operate in a global context today if it is to serve the state and the nation. By building new research collaborations, bringing Asian companies to our international incubator, and fostering intercontinental student exchanges, we keep Maryland plugged into the economic and intellectual currents."

back to top

HHS names Sivak new chief technology officer – Washington Business Journal

The Department of Health and Human Services has named Brian Sivak as the department’s next chief technology officer, according to Federal News Radio.

Sivak, currently chief innovation officer for Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and the former chief technology officer for the District of Columbia, will join HHS next month and also serve as tech entrepreneur-in-residence.

back to top

University of Maryland continues cyber push with Northrop partnership – Washington Business Journal

Thanks in part to its proximity to the federal government, the University of Maryland has shaped itself into one of the few institutions that specialize in cybersecurity — contributing its own resources, while also relying on financial contributions and expertise from the Washington area’s biggest government contractors.

The university’s latest announcement came Monday from Falls Church-based Northrop Grumman Corp. , which will provide UMd. a $1.1 million grant to create the nation’s first cybersecurity honors program for undergraduates, dubbed the Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students. The program will kick off this fall, and Northrop will support it for an additional two years.

back to top

Shady Grove Office Center lands Tech Council of Maryland headquarters – Washington Business Journal

The Tech Council of Maryland has moved into its new headquarters in the Shady Grove Office Center, Citybizlist.com reports.

The new location, at 9210 Corporate Blvd. in Rockville, is a short distance from the Tech Council’s previous offices on Key West Avenue. The group has more than 400 biotechnology and technology members.

back to top

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Closes $48.4M Series B -peHUB

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing drugs to treat diabetes, metabolic disease and cardiovascular disease, has closed its Series B round with a total of $48.4 million, the company announced. The round closed after a third tranche.

PhaseBio is backed by New Enterprise Associates, Astellas Venture Management, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., Hatteras Venture Partners and Fletcher Spaght Ventures.

back to top

Lynn-Ann Gries: With Organized Angels on Their Side, Can Start-ups Really Start Up Anywhere in the Country?

Raise your hand if you realized the Midwest has become a hotbed of angel group activity — and a well-respected resource of nationally respected investment knowledge. This spring, Tony Shipley represented the Angel Capital Association, a professional alliance of angel groups in the United States and Canada, in front of a Congressional subcommittee discussing equity finance as a catalyst for small business growth. The software entrepreneur, who founded the Cincinnati-based angel network, Queen City Angels= in 2000, testified about the financial and intellectual capital angel investors provide, while making suggestions on how Congress can use legislation and public policy to bolster the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Shipley’s presence at this meeting illustrates the growing national attention given to Midwest angels, who are making the region a hub for innovation. According to the 2011 HALO Report, 79 percent of angel group investments occurred outside of traditional funding mecca California. Of these investments, the Great Lakes region received the biggest proportion of them — 15.9 percent, a percentage greater than the shares of innovation-rich regions such as New England and the Southeast.

back to top

Maryland’s 18 Most Promising Incubator Companies – Citybizlist Baltimore

The 12th Annual Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards, supported by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), McGladrey, Inc. and Saul Ewing, is coming up.

The ceremony will recognize the achievement and potential among 18 current and graduate companies within Maryland’s incubator network. Chris Brandenburg from Millennial Media, who received the 2008 information technology Incubator Company of the Year award, will be the keynote speaker. The event will also feature technology demonstrations by the finalist companies.

back to top

UMBC Incubator Gets New Cyber Security Firms

The incubator at University of Maryland, Baltimore County has gotten an influx of new tenants, the majority of whom are responding to the increased demand for cyber security. 

bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park currently hosts 86 incubator and early-stage tenants and 14 affiliated companies and organizations, according to Gregory Simmons, the park’s vice president for institutional advancement.

Of the tenants, nearly 20 have joined the park in the past 18 months alone. They include Fearless Solutions, Rogue Technology, AIS (Assured Information Security) Inc., all of which are in the cyber security field.  Simmons says that most of the new tenants are also in that field, often in the area of securing data and networks, in medical, defense and financial services, among others.

back to top

Immunomic Therapeutics’ CEO, Dr. William G. Hearl, to Present at 2012 BIO International in June

Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc., ("ITI") a privately-held biotechnology company with laboratories in Rockville, MD, announced that it has been accepted to present at the Business Forum during the 2012 Bio International Convention. ITI’s CEO, Bill Hearl, will present progress in internal development of LAMP-vax™ vaccines as well as opportunities for co-development.

JRC-LAMP-vax vaccine incorporates Immunomic Therapeutics’ proprietary LAMP Technology™. LAMP (Lysosomal Associated Membrane Protein) is a normal and important component of the immune system that is present in the lysosome of all mammals. Incorporating LAMP Technology into vaccine design enables direct presentation of

back to top

Immunomic Therapeutics Receives IND Authorization from FDA for Phase I Study of Japanese Red Cedar LAMP-vax Vaccine

Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc., ("ITI," Lancaster, PA) a privately-held biotechnology company with laboratories in Rockville, MD, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its review of the Investigational New Drug Application ("IND") filed for the allergy immunotherapy, JRC- LAMP-vax™.  On April 12th, the FDA notified ITI that there will be no clinical hold and that ITI may now proceed with its clinical trial in June for JRC-LAMP-vax in Atlanta with subjects sensitive to Japanese Red Cedar pollen.

JRC-LAMP-Vax is a plasmid-based DNA vaccine that will be studied for the treatment of patients with rhino-conjunctivitis (runny nose) symptoms caused by allergic reaction to Japanese red cedar pollen. Almost 45% of the Japanese people are allergic to Japanese red cedar pollen. In North America, there is allergic rhinitis to mountain cedar pollen, which is 80% cross-reactive with Japanese red cedar pollen allergen.  ITI intends to partner with a Japanese pharmaceutical company for studies in Japan and will seek FDA approval of the vaccine in the US.

back to top

Morning Read: VC sees opportunities in areas where Pharma is pulling back

Counter-intuitive as it may be, investing in areas that pharma is abandoning could yield great returns for investors. Just look at anti-bacterials in the ’90s and 2000s, says VC Bruce Booth in a Forbes column. So where should investors be looking today? Neuroscience, heart failure and obesity.

The shortage of cancer drugs that’s plagued hospitals for almost two years now has eased, although not completely, according to cancer doctors.

A recent study by Johns Hopkins researchers brings a reality check to the potential (and the limits) of genome sequencing in predicting disease.

back to top

To Neuroscience Drug Discovery and Preclinical Development Researchers:

back to top

Government Unveils First Map Of All The Germs In The Human Body – Forbes

Today, in two of the world’s top medical journals, scientists are publishing the results of a $173 million government-funded project to sequence the vast bulk of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in and on the human body.

The results might at first seem anticlimactic. There’s no news about which germs cause or prevent disease, or even a clear message about how they make people different from one another. What we know is there are a lot of them. We have ten times as many microbial cells in our body as human ones, and though they are tiny, that still means that a 200-pound man is carrying two to six pounds of microbes, mostly bacteria. And there are tantalizing hints that they might play a role in all sorts of diseases. Patients who are at risk for difficult-to-treat hospital infections might have a particular kind of bacteria in their digestive systems; those who are obese might have another; children who can’t get enough nutrition might have a third.

back to top

Opinion: What’s Wrong with COI? | The Scientist

Advances in medical and surgical care are hard-won. They require rigorous, carefully interpreted laboratory research. Equally important is the painstaking clinical work to translate basic discoveries into useful diagnostics, drugs, and devices.  Despite the odds, the achievements made in the past half century are unmistakable: a 50 percent reduction in cardiovascular mortality despite an epidemic of obesity; a dramatically decreased cancer mortality rate; and the conversion of AIDS from a death sentence to survival with good life quality.

The key to such success has been the growing number and complexity of collaborations between academics, physicians, regulatory agencies, and—not least—industry. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, a mania has taken hold that discounts the social value of collaboration and has mounted an inquisition against it, encapsulated by the epithet “financial conflict of interest (fCOI).” Critics’ unwarranted allegations that such conflicts cause bias have limited the sources of intellect that can contribute to a given project.

back to top

CMS ANNOUNCES PRIVATE-SECTOR COMMITMENTS TO IMPROVE PRIMARY CARE FOR PATIENTS, SAVE MONEY FOR MEDICARE

In a strong show of support for more effective, more affordable, higher quality health care, 45 commercial, federal and State insurers in seven markets today pledged to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to give more Americans access to quality health care at lower cost.

Under the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative, CMS will pay primary care practices a care management fee, initially set at an average of $20 per beneficiary per month, to support enhanced, coordinated services.  Simultaneously, participating commercial, State, and other federal insurance plans are also offering an enhanced payment to primary care practices that provide high-quality primary care.  

back to top

NCI: SBIR & STTR – Resource Center – Innovative Partnerships for Commercializing Health IT

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced a new Program Announcement, aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of consumer health information technology products that translate the behavioral and communication science evidence base for the prevention and control of cancer and other chronic diseases. The NCI and the National Library of Medicine (a co-funding partner) are interested in supporting the development and dissemination of evidence-based health information technology (health IT) products that have the potential to:

• Prevent or reduce the risk of cancer 
• Facilitate patient-provider communication and/or 
• Improve disease outcomes in consumer and clinical settings

A non-exclusive list of product examples relevant to the FOA are provided below.

back to top

HHS harnesses the power of health data to improve health

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the Institute of Medicine (IoM) and other members of the Health Data Consortium, are co-hosting the third annual “Datapalooza” focusing on innovative applications and services that harness the power of open data from HHS and other sources to help improve health and health care.

The Health Data Initiative Forum III is featuring more than 100 new or updated solutions, up from 45 solutions last year, that help serve the needs of consumers, health care providers, employers, public health leaders, and policy makers.

“The innovators present today are a great example of how data and technology can be used in powerful ways to help consumers and providers improve health,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “We’re not just creating new technology, but we’re empowering Americans to make better decisions about health and health care by putting information at their fingertips.”

back to top

Judge sides with HGS on poison pill

The latest chapter in Human Genome Sciences’ battle to fend off a hostile takeover bid by British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline played out in a Rockville courtroom Thursday morning.

A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge shot down an HGS shareholder’s request for a temporary restraining order to invalidate the “poison pill” the Rockville biotech enacted last month to make it a less attractive acquisition target.

back to top

Johns Hopkins’ High Tech Hospital: Interview with President Ronald R. Peterson

Johns Hopkins has had many milestones since it first opened its hospital in Baltimore in 1889. It pioneered the acceptance of women to medical school and the use of rubber gloves in surgery, discovered restriction enzymes and the brain’s natural opiates, birthed multiple medical specialties including neurosurgery and pediatrics, and developed life-saving procedures such as renal dialysis, CPR, and the “blue baby” operation that paved the way for modern heart surgery. May marked another major milestone for the nation’s best hospital for 21 years in a row: the opening of its brand new high-tech clinic.

We had the opportunity to sit down with The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System’s President, Ronald R. Peterson, to discuss their new clinical building. Peterson has an impressive and storied background at Johns Hopkins, which is why he’s ideally positioned to talk about the milestone.

back to top

Montgomery County Innovation Network

If you are an emerging advanced technology, life sciences or professional services company or a foreign business looking for a soft landing in the U.S. market, the Business Innovation Network of Montgomery County, Maryland has the perfect place for you.  The Innovation Network business incubators are located throughout Montgomery County adjacent to Washington, D.C.  with its talented workforce and strategic access to the federal and commercial marketplace, all in a sophisticated, diverse community. The Network was founded by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development in 1999 with the opening of the Shady Grove Innovation Center and specializes in helping young companies realize their potential.  Since its inception the Business Innovation Network has worked with over 250 teams of entrepreneurs and graduated about 100 companies. Over the last 10 years the Network has grown to five business incubation centers that offer the critical combination of highly flexible, modern office and lab space and business support services. 

back to top

MedImmune creates new Cambridge hothouse

MedImmune in Cambridge UK is reaching out to academics and biotech companies in a bid to improve the industry’s poor neuroscience track record.

Together with AstraZeneca in Boston, Massachusetts, MedImmune – the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca – is setting up a collaborative unit at its Granta Park HQ with the aim of producing drugs to treat neurodegenerative conditions, long term pain and neuropsychiatric conditions.

Iain Chessell, vice-president R & D Neuroscience said: “There have been no new approvals of completely novel mechanisms for treating pain for at least a decade – if not more – and current treatment only works in a third to half of patients.

back to top

Why we need a Federal Lab Innovation Authority: Unlocking Our Federal Lab Resources for Economic Growth

Below is an editorial suggesting the nation could become more economically competitive by helping remove barriers to connect our federal lab technology, human and physical resources to the private sector. Without question, Maryland has the most to gain from this national initiative. We are home to the nation’s largest concentration of federal laboratories and many federal lab researchers live in Maryland. To its credit, the state has launched new programs to support commercialization and partnering among the state’s considerable academic research and development assets. Since federal labs are creatures of federal legislation, these efforts need to extend to federal labs, augmented with federal policy reforms. Now is the time for the state to lead the Maryland Congressional delegation, working with other state congressional delegations, to work on a bi-partisan basis to enact pathways for better connecting the human, physical and technology assets of our federal labs with their regions.

back to top

InvestMaryland Forum

Thursday, June 14, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (ET)
Rockville, MD

A free and open forum to:

• Discuss InvestMaryland implementation progress and investment strategy
• Detail state venture funding resources to seed and early-stage companies
• Address questions from the business community

back to top

Rockville Economic Development Inc. appoints executive director

Laurie Boyer, president of the Maryland Economic Development Association, is the new executive director of Rockville Economic Development Inc.

Boyer has more than 15 years of government and economic development experience, according to a statement from REDI.

She served more than five years as director of the Frederick County Office of Economic Development and earned her certified economic developer designation from the International Economic Development Council in 2006.

back to top

BioPulse – New cancer center breaks ground

The State of Maryland’s Pulse on the Bio Industry.

back to top

Fulfilling the promise of bioscience: report from Milken Institute outlines steps for overcoming barriers to innovation in medical research

It’s been almost a decade since the Human Genome Project was completed, yet despite the best efforts of thousands of scientists around the world, hopes for cures for a wide range of diseases remain unfulfilled.

Last fall, a remarkable group of leaders came together to find new ways of overcoming the barriers that have prevented more progress in medical research. A report from the Milken Institute, released today, Accelerating Innovation in the Bioscience Revolution, recaps the discussions from that gathering – the 2011 Milken Institute Lake Tahoe Retreat.

back to top

The Johns Hopkins University Names New Carey Business School Dean

Bernard T. “Bernie” Ferrari, an accomplished corporate strategist and management consultant to Fortune 50 companies, has been named the next dean of The Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School.

Ferrari, whose appointment is effective July 1, is the second dean to lead the Carey Business School since it was established in 2007. He succeeds Yash P. Gupta who stepped down last June.

back to top

iTEC Webinar Series – Research Commercialization and SBIR Center

Private Sector Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program in partnership with the NIH/OTT Monday, June 11, 12:00 pm to 12:30pm ET

Presenters: Richard Bendis Founding President and CEO Innovation America and Mark L. Rohrbaugh, Ph.D., J.D. Director Office of Technology Transfer National Institutes of Health Department of Health and Human Services

BioHealth Innovation, Inc.’s (BHI) Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program is designed to be an active partner with research institutions to source, fund, and grow high-potential, early-stage products through project-focused companies. The entrepreneurs in the program support the formation of new companies based upon innovative discoveries in the areas of drugs, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices from the intramural research programs at the NIH and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as from universities and businesses. The EIR will find, evaluate, and support the development of new start-up companies based upon technology license agreements from technology transfer offices or equivalent units within the research institutions.

back to top

Demand for Biotech Tax Breaks | The Scientist

United States Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has introduced legislation that will revive the Therapeutic Discovery Project Tax Credit, which funneled $1 billion in tax breaks and grants to biotech companies across America in 2010. The program impacted about 3,000 small US companies that year. “Biotech labs employ dedicated scientists and researchers, whose discoveries could lead to a ground-breaking cures for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or HIV/AIDS,” Menendez said in a statement released last week. “Manufacturing these breakthrough therapies is already creating thousands of high-paying jobs, and extending this critical tax credit will not only create more good jobs here in America, but keep us at the forefront of life-saving innovation.”

back to top

Academic and Tech Transfer Community to be Spotlighted at the 2012 BIO International Convention

Universities have historically been on the front lines of translating innovative research into novel medicines and technologies useful to patients. With that in mind, the 2012 BIO International Convention will look to highlight the role of academia in the advancement of the biotechnology field through the BIO Academic Park and the Translational Research Forum. Hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), this year’s global event for biotechnology will take place June 18-21, 2012 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, MA.

"The BIO Academic Park will give Convention attendees the opportunity to connect and start conversations that could lead to partnerships, and most importantly, establish a tighter link between academic, industry representatives and investors," said Dr. Abigail Barrow, Founding Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and Program Co-Chair of the 2012 BIO International Convention.

back to top

Why doctors won’t stop PSA testing anytime soon

Johns Hopkins researchers say it’s going to be a hard sell to get physicians to stop screening healthy men routinely for prostate cancer with PSA testing, despite recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) that the cancer screening does more harm than good.

Patient expectations, malpractice fears cited The researchers surveyed physicians, 74.4% of whom said patients expect PSA testing.

back to top

The “Valley of Death” Looms for 8 Kids with a Rare Disease | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

The pharmaceutical industry rightly calls the stage in drug development between basic research and clinical trials the “Valley of Death.” This is when a potential treatment that’s worked in mice, monkeys, and the like catapults to a phase 1 clinical trial to assess safety. It’s rare.

Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, calls this period “where projects go to die.” The reason: $.

Matthew Herper writes in Forbes that the cost of developing a new drug is $4-11 billion, not the $1 billion that Pharma often claims. Yet even that $1 billion is unimaginable, especially when you put a face on a rare disease and witness what the family goes through to leap to phase 1.

back to top

Lilly invests in $150 million Canada life sciences fund

Eli Lilly is participating in a new investment fund which will focus primarily on early-stage drug development opportunities in Canada as a whole and Quebec in particular.

The fund, which will be operated by investment investment group TVM Capital, will have an initial size of $150 million. As well as Lilly, other backers include Teralys Capital (which is putting in $65 million), BDC Venture Capital, Fondaction and Advantus Capital Management.

back to top

Accelerator Looks to Expand, With an Eye on the Big Apple | Xconomy

Accelerator, the venture-backed biotech startup machine, has made its name over the past decade as a hotspot for financing life sciences companies in Seattle with big dreams and potential. Now it’s considering expanding its model for starting biotech companies in other life science clusters around the world, including New York.

Plans are still in the exploratory stage, but the idea is that Accelerator would remain headquartered in Seattle and build a network of satellite labs in four or five other locations around the world, says Carl Weissman, the co-founder and CEO of Accelerator. Accelerator’s existing venture backers, and some potential new investors, have expressed interest in a more far-reaching version of Accelerator, Weissman says.

back to top

Rock Health reveals six startups for its Boston class | mobihealthnews

San Francisco-based digital health incubator Rock Health revealed the six startups that will take part in its “pop up” incubator in Boston this summer. The Boston program is a bit different from those that took place at Rock Health headquarters in California: Those were five-month long spring and fall programs and the Boston program’s duration will be just under three months. The startups will present at a demo day on August 24, 2012. Harvard Medical School will play host to Rock Health’s third class and the institution’s community of clinicians and industry experts will work with the startups to refine their strategy.

Here’s how Rock Health describes the six startups (we had only heard of one previously) in its first Boston class:

back to top

Events: Boston by the Numbers

BIO International Convention organizers are hoping for the usual surge in attendance provided by the Boston biotech community at the event scheduled for June 18-21 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. While it may not reach the 22,000 level achieved at the last Boston BIO in 2007, it should surpass the 15,600 who came to last year’s event in Washington, D.C. Exhibitors will occupy more than 215,000 sq. ft of exhibit space.

Attendance for the event has been off its historic highs since the Atlanta event in 2009 which drew about 14,000. Organizers attribute the drop that year to the H1N1 influenza epidemic which surfaced a few weeks before the convention and to the economic downturn. Attendance has been slowly recovering since 2009.

back to top

Want Better Odds? Get a Pharma Corporate VC to Invest – Forbes

Pharma corporate venture was back in the biotech news today with the release of Burrill & Company’s June 2012 report.  An interesting article by Vinay Singh evaluated the impact of Pharma corporate venture capital (CVC) investing, and the key takeaway is that CVC-backed companies have a higher rate of overall success than those without their involvement.

While a similar takeway has been published before by Windhover’s StartUp about a year ago, these data suggests a fairly robust effect from a large dataset.  The analysis includes 2907 therapeutics companies that raised venture capital dollars between 2000-2010 across 5100 rounds of financing.  Corporate VCs were investors about 10% of companies, and this pool of 286 companies had what appears to be a markedly higher hit rate: a ~60% higher rate of licensing deals, M&As and IPOs. 

back to top

Physicians still use mobile for support, not so much with patients yet | mobihealthnews

Smartphone adoption among physicians has started to level but there’s been an “explosion” of adoption in tablets, Manhattan Research’s VP of Research Monique Levy said during a recent webinar. Levy said that Manhattan’s survey of physicians in the US found that 62 percent now have some kind of tablet device, almost twice as many as last year.

“I still cannot believe some of this data. I had to double and triple check it because it is just astounding,” Levy said. The majority of these tablet toting doctors are iPad owners, but even among that group Levy was surprised to find that even they are planning to buy an additional tablet device in the next few months.

back to top

Who’s on Biotech’s Endangered Species List? Mid-Sized Drug Developers | Xconomy

Only a few companies have ever been successful enough to call themselves Big Biotechs. If boards and shareholders lack vision and guts, we’ll look back in few years and wonder why the Big Biotechs went extinct.

The group of Big Biotechs includes companies like Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Biogen Idec, and Celgene. They grew from scrappy venture-backed startups with a dream into big, independent, profitable, diversified enterprises. They have enduring ability to create new jobs and new medicines. They are like ballasts in a stormy industry.

back to top

Cleveland Clinic to help Notre Dame commercialize medical innovations

Following on the heels of two hospitals, the University of Notre Dame has become the first university to strike a collaboration with Cleveland Clinic aimed at commercializing medical innovations from its faculty and researchers.

Through the collaboration, Cleveland Clinic Innovations will essentially do for Notre Dame what it does for the Clinic — help turn employee ideas into marketable products that generate financial returns for the organization.

back to top