News Archive

GrayBug LLC, a startup ophthalmic drug company spun out of Johns Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute, has hired its first full-time CEO and raised $1.5 million in new venture capital funding.

Michael O’Rourke, a veteran pharmaceutical industry executive and consultant, joined Baltimore-based GrayBug on Oct. 15. He comes to the company as it closed $1.5 million in funding from investors including the Maryland Venture Fund, the Abell Foundation and Brown Advisory, the Baltimore asset management firm.

Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus Executive Director Elaine Amir retired Sept. 30. On an interim basis, Leslie Ford Weber is serving as campus executive director.

Leslie knows her way around Johns Hopkins and Montgomery County. She is director of government and community affairs for Montgomery County, representing both the university and the Johns Hopkins health system in their interactions with county elected officials, businesses and other external organizations. Before joining Government and Community Affairs, Leslie held a dual role as executive vice president of the Suburban Hospital Foundation and senior vice president of Government and Community Relations for Suburban Hospital.

Type 2 diabetes is viewed as one of the biggest drivers of healthcare costs partly because of the complications that can arise from the condition. Diabetes costs in 2012, for example, reached $245 billion. One complication — hyperglycemia – can cause diabetic coma if it remains untreated. WellDoc is working on a way to predict hyperglycemia without patients needing to have continuous glucose monitoring. The plan is to add the mhealth tool to its prescription mobile app platform Bluestar, which the company is preparing to roll out.

It presented positive findings from a study of the hyperglycemia prediction tool at the Diabetes Technology meeting in San Francisco this week, according to a company statement.

Vaccine manufacturers are often criticized for investing in shots aimed at high-margin Western markets, while neglecting diseases affecting the developing world. This week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation set up a project to spur development in neglected areas by cutting the financial risk of early research.

GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and Sanofi ($SNY) are the first companies to sign up to the project, called the Vaccine Discovery Partnership (VxDP). Under VxDP, the Gates Foundation will work directly with biopharma companies on projects that further its goals and span from preclinical through to Phase IIa. By providing financial support for the projects, the Gates Foundation hopes to make early-phase vaccine research a less risky proposition for the industry.

Fidelity Biosciences and REGENX Biosciences today announced the formation of Dimension Therapeutics, a gene therapy company focused on developing novel treatments for rare diseases. Dimension will focus on advancing its platform of gene therapy programs in rare diseases through clinical development, starting with lead programs in hemophilia, and building out a world-class product engine for AAV therapeutics. Dimension has completed an undisclosed Series A financing led by Fidelity Biosciences.

In conjunction with its launch, Dimension has entered into an exclusive license and collaboration with REGENX. REGENX holds exclusive rights to a portfolio of over 100 patents and patent applications pertaining to its NAV® vector technology that includes novel AAV vectors such as rAAV7, rAAV8, rAAV9, and rAAVrh10. Through its license and collaboration with REGENX, Dimension has acquired preferred access to NAV vector technology and rights in REGENX product programs in multiple rare disease indications.

The number of Maryland companies receiving venture capital increased to 26 in the 3rd quarter of 2013, doubling the number of deals in the 2nd quarter. The 26 deals totaled $140 million, according to the latest PWCMoneytree report. Nationally venture capital investment activity rose 12% in terms of dollars and 5% in the number of deals compared to the second quarter of 2013. More than half of the deals were early and seed stage deals, signaling optimism among the report’s sponsors regarding “the future of innovation and the vibrancy of the startup ecosystem.”

For the ninth year Kevin Plank, Founder & CEO of Under Armour, will partner with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business to host one of the nation’s toughest business competitions. There’s $115K on the line, and how does access to Kevin Plank’s professional network sound? Apply by January 6, 2014. Visit our web site to learn more about Plank’s story and commitment to entrepreneurship. The elegibility, timeline, prize breakdown and more is listed below. Don’t miss the chance to pitch your business to Plank and other top judges.

Application Deadline: January 6, 2014

Semifinal Round: February 21, 2014 @ Under Armour Headquarters, Baltimore, MD

Final Competition: April 4, 2014 @ Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland

1776, the downtown startup hub that launched earlier this year with a grant from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration, has recruited Gray staffer David Zipper to head its for-profit venture arm.

Zipper was instrumental in mustering the mayor’s support behind the initiative located at 1133 15th St. NW, which combines co-working, startup education, events and mentorship under one roof and brand. 1776 has so far received some $380,000 from the District, $200,000 of which went toward the initial 15,000 square foot build-out, with the rest funding the Challenge Cup global startup competition.

James Ramsey could easily move his business to where he lives in Eastern Virginia, but Maryland is just too rich in his opinion.

He would rather drive more than three hours each way every week to a house he rents in Baltimore to keep his business in Maryland. That’s because with all the neighboring colleges in the state, he thinks the talent pool is too good to pass up.

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) has posted a revised 2012-2013 Granting Programs Request for Proposals (RFP) at http://www.lsdfa.org/documents/pdfs/LSDF_2012-2013_Granting_Programs_RFP.pdf that includes the following important changes:

• Opportunity grant principal investigators must confer with LSDF programs staff before pre-proposal submission.
• For Opportunity grants, only co-investments that are made contemporaneously with LSDF funding are counted as leverage. LSDF does not consider past funding (i.e., monies previously committed, received, or expended) or future predictions of funding as leverage. 
• Opportunity grant pre-proposals may undergo review by LSDF-convened external expert panels prior to evaluation by the LSDF Board of Trustees. 
• Regulatory consultation expenses are allowable if they inform the conduct of the proposed research and development activities. 
• Principal investigators are encouraged to bring up to two additional individuals to the pre-proposal and full proposal interviews. 
• For-profit applicant organizations will be required to provide a certificate of existence, certificate of incorporation, or a business license with their proposals. 
• Board of Trustees award decision meeting dates have been updated. 
• If a full proposal is submitted under this RFP but not funded, the principal investigator may resubmit the full proposal without having to submit a new pre-proposal, provided that the principal investigator, applicant organization, and scope of work are the same in the resubmitted proposal as in the original proposal (as determined solely by LSDF). 
• All invitations to submit a full proposal under this RFP expire on July 23, 2013.