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Pictured: Rich Bendis, BHI; Arkesh Mehta, Chikujee Therapeutics; Stephen Yoder, Pieras AG; Rick Soni, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals

Growlers was “abuzz” on March 20 with a large and diverse gathering of biotech professionals attending the monthly BioBuzz networking event. BHI CEO Rich Bendis welcomed the crowd and talked about the latest happenings at BHI. According to Andrew Eckert, “We received a lot of positive feedback on the location and found a number of folks were interested in speaking to somebody from BHI. I’m pretty confident this was one of the largest, if not THE largest turnout ever for a BioBuzz event.”

BioBuzz is working to build a stronger community by bringing the biotech workforce out of the labs to culture relationships, instead of just cells.

On April 2, BHI invited a team of NIH Office of Technology Transfer interns working with BHI EIR Todd Chappell for a Social Meeting. Also in attendance were two guest speakers. Bart Kus, Senior Manager of Portfolio Management MedImmune, spoke about his career track from the lab into business development. Errol Levy, EU Diplomat (Research and Innovation Counsellor) for the European Commission talked about opportunities in Europe and the upcoming Destination Europe Conference on April 11 in DC. It was a great event for all who attended.

– Multiple SBIR/STTR Submission Deadlines Quickly Approaching –

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional private-public partnership focusing on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Central Maryland, announced today the launch of its Commercial Relevance Program (CRP). BHI’s CRP is designed to help life science companies navigate the complicated process of preparing applications for federal funding, inclusive of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), and other federal government awards.

“The federal grant application process can be very complex. Based on 2012 data released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Maryland ranks 32nd out of 50 states with regard to SBIR award success rates. We would like to improve on this – and are confident that the CRP will help companies be more successful with their submissions,” said Ethan Byler, Director, Innovation Programs, BioHealth Innovation, Inc.

“At the end of the day, it’s about helping Central Maryland companies to get the best results possible as they seek out federal grant awards as a means of non-dilutive funding,” he added.

The CRP incorporates a pre-proposal review by knowledgeable BHI staff and advisors prior to a life science company’s submission of a full proposal. Through this review process, applicants will receive a set of recommendations and tips for troubleshooting their proposal for federal funding.

Interested life science companies in Central Maryland should contact BHI today for more information. The following federal agency SBIR/STTR deadlines are fast approaching:

• NIH SBIR/STTR Deadline – April 5, 2013
  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/sbir.htm
• NSF SBIR/STTR Deadline – June 11, 2013
  http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/index.jsp
• DOD SBIR/STTR Deadline – June 26, 2013
  http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/sb/schedule.shtml

About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.

Rick Soni is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, a publically-traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. He has held this position since August, 2009. Prior to that, he also served as Chief Business Officer from July 2008 to August 2009. While at Rexahn, Mr. Soni has been instrumental in transforming Rexahn from a discovery stage company to a clinical stage company and has formed a major licensing partnership between Rexahn and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to joining Rexahn, Mr. Soni held various management positions within Otsuka from June 1997 until July 2008 and was responsible for development and commercialization of otsuka’s successful product portfolio. Prior to Otsuka, Mr. Soni also held several management roles within New Product Planning, Sales and Marketing at Novartis and Schering-Plough (now Merck).

Mr. Soni received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from University of Wisconsin- Madison and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.