Montgomery College has become a certified affiliate of the Kauffman Foundation and its FastTrac series of courses intended to support future and current business owners before, during, and after the start-up process.
The course schedule is now available in the attachment below.
FastTrac courses provide entrepreneurs the information, resources, and networks necessary to start and grow successful businesses.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that Allen Shofe, executive vice president of corporate affairs, has been appointed to serve on the board of directors of the MdBio Foundation, a private charitable organization whose mission is to support bioscience awareness, education, and workforce development in Maryland. MdBio Foundation is an affiliate of the Tech Council of Maryland.
“I am honored to serve on the board of a Foundation that is committed to training and investing in tomorrow’s scientific talent, which is one of four focus areas of Emergent’s GIVE corporate social responsibility program,” said Mr. Shofe. “For years, Emergent has partnered with MdBio Foundation to host the Young Science Explorers program (YSEP) at our Gaithersburg laboratory facility providing middle school students a glimpse into biopharmaceutical product development and an opportunity to interact with employees and scientists about STEM-based careers. We look forward to again welcoming YSEP at our facility in July.”
The search for the artificial pancreas continues, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Becton Dickinson ($BDX) have joined forces to develop an insulin-delivery system paired with glucose monitoring for people with Type 1 diabetes.
The foundation and Becton Dickinson have agreed to a three-year partnership, an extension of existing collaborations between the two, with a focus on Type 1 diabetes, according to a release. The device, long sought-after in the industry, would mimic the functions of a human pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar levels indicate it is needed by combining the pump with a glucose-monitoring system. This minimizes the potential for human error, as the standard of care currently requires a pump with a catheter and patient-controlled glucose monitoring.
“Don’t write that we have a cure for cancer tomorrow,” says Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, “but there are some spectacular results.”
Mr Soriot was at MedImmune on Granta Park, AstraZeneca’s current toe-hold on the city and on the day that the pharma company announced its chosen site – Cambridge Biomedical Campus at Addenbrooke’s – to relocate its global HQ and UK R&D activities.
Higher education is becoming big business as more students head off to college, but they’re also about developing businesses, and the state is turning research and development into new business ventures.
Maryland leads the nation in how much it spends on research but the University System of Maryland — which includes 13 colleges and universities — is trying to take research to a new level by creating more small businesses off campus. The goal so far is to try and create more than 300 new businesses over the next decade.
The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland will offer an online MBA program beginning in January 2014. Designed to accommodate working professionals, the flexible online program allows students to earn an MBA degree largely on their own time with minimal on-campus requirements. The program courses are taught by the same top faculty and adhere to the academic rigor of the Smith School’s other top MBA programs.
“This is a major step forward for the university and for business professionals who need flexible access to academic excellence,” said UMD President Wallace Loh. “The Smith School is combining a state-of-the-art online platform with the academic rigor that makes it a leader. University-wide we are exploring how best to use technology-based learning, and this is an excellent model.”
As groups of high-net-worth individuals continue to band together in the form of angel investment networks and funds, they’re creating new opportunities for funding for mid-stage startups. But to some entrepreneurs, they’re also starting to look an awful lot like VCs.
There are about 350 angel investing groups in the U.S. today, according to Marianne Hudson,executive director of the Angel Capital Association. Although most of the U.S.’s more than 300,000 angel investors still work as individuals, the influence of their networking is growing. The median angel round size in 2012 was somewhere around $600,000, according to the 2012 Halo Report, up from $500,000 in 2010.
Hard to understand, slow to exit and more than enough risk to go around.
Not many investors are brave and smart enough to fund startups working to get new pharmaceuticals, medical devices and therapeutics on the market. To highlight this breed of investors, and to give healthcare entrepreneurs a way to find them, we have compiled a list of venture capital firms with a track record of healthcare investing.
Savara Pharmaceuticals needed several million dollars to take its inhalable drug for troublesome infections in cystic fibrosis patients through Phase 2 clinical trials. So CEO Rob Neville, naturally, began talking with venture capitalists. But in the end, he didn’t end up needing any of their money.
Over the course of about a year, Savara raised a $16 million Series B round – in two tranches – led by a quartet of angel groups from central Texas to southern California.
Medical schools have been preparing for the changes health care reform is bringing. Many have framed their education around iPads and other tablets and are encouraging more of their students to focus on primary care as physician shortages are expected to worsen. From accelerated programs to a technology focus, the description of some of the innovative approaches proposed to obtain some of the $11 million in grants being offered by the American Medical Association over the next five years offers a window to their thinking about health care reform.
Combined primary care degree Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School is setting up a dual degree in primary care and population health. “The goal is to educate a new type of physician with a primary care background,” its proposal said.
