Gaithersburg-based immunotherapy company Altimmune Inc. announced Tuesday it plans to expand into a new headquarters, but it's not going far.

Altimmune (NASDAQ: ALT) officials said they plan to relocate existing employees — as well as new employees acquired as a result of its acquisition of Annapolis biodefense company PharmAthene Inc. — to a 14,000-square-foot space at 910 Clopper Road. The company is currently based at 19 Firstfield Road, less than a mile away.

Intralytix, Inc. announced that it received $17.5 million in new equity funding from Lesaffre, a French family group. This investment marks the beginning of a close collaboration between both companies to develop and commercialize bacteriophage-based products, for various benefits in human health and in other areas of mutual interest.

As a global key player in yeasts and fermentation, Lesaffre designs, manufactures and markets innovative solutions for Baking, Food taste & pleasure, Health care and Biotechnology. This new investment is perfectly in line with Lesaffre’s ongoing expansion strategy in nutrition and health. In 2015, Lesaffre had already announced the investment in Gnosis, an Italian company specialized in ingredients for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetic and veterinary industries.

Deadline Extended to August 24, 2017! Submit your proposal today

There's still time to submit your proposal for the "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" competition. Deadline extended to Thursday, August 24, 2017 at midnight PDT.

Up to six prizes totaling $250,000 will be awarded to the winning presentations at the nation's leading pediatric innovation symposium on Sunday, September 24, 2017. Are you registered for the Symposium?

Join us for the 5th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium in San Jose, CA - one day before The MedTech Conference powered by AdvaMed.

It's a results-driven day that brings together medical device innovators, investors, researchers, clinicians, and policy makers to stimulate pediatric device innovation and bring solutions to market faster for the benefit of children everywhere.

Innovation is a principal driver of U.S. economic growth. In 2016, the U.S. spent an estimated $514 billion on research and development — more than any other country in the world — helping the nation rank No. 4 on the Global Innovation Index. According to the results of the ranking, knowledge and technology outputs are America’s particular strengths.

But certain states are due more credit than others for America’s dominance in the tech era. These states continue to foster innovation through investments in education, research and business creation, especially in highly specialized industries.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUPN), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products for the treatment of central nervous system diseases, today announced, following a four-day bench trial, that the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled that TWi Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiary infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 7,722,898, 7,910,131, and 8,821,930 by submitting to the FDA an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) seeking permission to market a generic version of Oxtellar XR® before the expiration of Supernus' patents.  The District Court ruling also confirmed the validity of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,722,898, 7,910,131, and 8,821,930.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology on Wednesday published new guidance on how to strengthen passwords. Why now? Research shows that the de facto standard practice of requiring users to include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and at least one symbol, is more trouble than it’s worth.

“Analyses of breached password databases reveal that the benefit of such rules is not nearly as significant as initially thought,” NIST explained. “The impact on usability and memorability is severe.”

Maryland gained 800 jobs in July and unemployment fell for the third consecutive month.

The private sector added 11,500 positions while government positions decreased by 10,700, according to preliminary data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. Maryland's unemployment rate dropped to 4 percent in July from 4.1 percent.

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE MKT: SENS), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of Eversense®, a long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering. Senseonics is offering 11,637,500 shares of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at a price to the public of $2.15 per share. In connection with the offering, Senseonics has also granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,745,625 shares of common stock offered in the public offering to cover over-allotments, if any. Senseonics intends to use the net proceeds from the offering primarily to begin commercialization of Eversense in the United States, if approved, to fund continued research and development of future configurations of Eversense, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The offering is expected to close on August 23, 2017, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions.

Venture capital spending continues to lag behind the record activity of recent years, but startups needn't worry; industry analysts say there's still billions in dealmaking still to be done.

Nationally, VC firms invested roughly $38 billion in startups and other early-stage companies during the first two quarters this year, down 10 percent from the $42 billion recorded during the same span in 2016 and off about $2 billion from 2015, according to data collected by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association.

Imagine a workplace with no desk or office of your own, even if you are the company’s CEO.

Instead, you work in a neighborhood-style space, fitted for a time when workers — especially millennials — do not need to sit at the same cubicle for 40 hours a week.

The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks an organized, energetic person to assist with operational functions and related activities for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program in the Honors College.

This nationally award-winning program helps to develop the entrepreneurial mindsets, skill sets, and resources for first and second-year students. The position-holder would provide coordination and support for: 1.) program operations and administration; 2.) courses and curriculum; 3.) student activities and engagement; 4.) marketing and recruiting; and 5.) development and grants.

This is an exciting opportunity for a self-starting, highly motivated, tech-savvy individual with experience in or desire to engage in an entrepreneurial and/or higher education environment. The ideal candidate will possess a Bachelor's degree along with excellent skills in verbal, written and interpersonal communication, teamwork, multi-tasking, problem-solving, event management, and customer service.

This is a 6-month, hourly, contractual position, up to 40 hours per week, that would begin immediately. To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For best consideration, please apply by August 28, 2017.

The Cybersecurity Association of Maryland has a pair of new board members.

Silent Circle CEO Gregg Smith and EZShield VP of Technology Darrell Laffoon were elected to the board of the organization, according to a statement. Elected to a second term was Karen Austin, publisher of United States Security Magazine.

Johns Hopkins’ accelerator for impact-focused entrepreneurs opened up applications for its next cohort.

The JHU Social Innovation Lab will accept up to 10 companies for the next cohort, which begins in the fall. The program is open to entrepreneurs who are Greater Baltimore residents, as well as the Johns Hopkins community.

Montgomery County, particularly Gaithersburg, has become a central hub for vaccine research and development, and to a lesser extent for vaccine manufacturing.

The County is a key vaccine development center “not only for the country, but the world,” said Brad Fackler, senior director for life sciences at the c.

Netherlands-based biotechnology firm MIMETAS has partnered with Roche to develop a new organ-on-a-chip system to support intestinal permeability assessment.

The new system is designed to enable evaluation in perfused three-dimensional (3D) gut tubules in high throughput under exposure to pharmacological compounds. As part of their research, the firms are reported to have grown more than 350 gut tubules under flow to form leak-tight structures.

Altimmune, a drug company based in Gaithersburg, has agreements with investors to raise about $14.7 million, excluding fees and expenses, in a second round of financing. The company plans to sell 15,565 shares of convertible preferred stock and warrants to new and existing investors in a round that the company expects to close around Aug. 21.

September 18, 2017 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Maryland Department of Commerce World Trade Center Baltimore 401 East Pratt Street, 17th floor  

The Maryland Department of Commerce invites you to learn about the new Maryland Defense Diversification Assistance Program that is designed to assist Maryland companies with dependence on US Department of Defense contracts to expand into international markets. The presentation will highlight Australia (particularly the State of Victoria) as a destination for exporting and partnerships.

Muhammad Najee-Ullah has long been interested in technology, and he recognized the potential for art, tech and design to engage youth in Baltimore.

With Pop-Up Robotic Gaming Grounds (PURGG), Najee-Ullah introduces youth to STEAM. At after-school programs and events, PURGG lets students compete with teams of robots to gather items on a field. It’s also about learning what goes into designing and building the robots through educational “Design/Build/Compete” workshops that introduce coding, 3D printing, game design and plenty of other concepts.

9 November 2017 - Munich

Future X Healthcare offers a unique platform to connect key innovation drivers in healthcare for an open and inspiring exchange of ideas, insights and solutions. The one-day event fosters new networks between the worlds of science, industry, VCs, accelerators, start-ups and politics.  

The mission for 2017: to shape the future of healthcare by making big data meaningful – from science to patient care. The increasing availability of healthcare data – from genomic profiling, advanced imaging, digital biomarkers to electronic health records and mobile health – creates the foundation and framework for a more targeted, personalized healthcare. Together, we can change the way we do research, prevent and diagnose diseases, and treat patients.  

Experience a day full of inspiration at Alte Bayerische Staatsbank in Munich with top speakers, start-up pitches, a networking innovation fair and two brand-new awards.

I'm thrilled to let you know that our gut-on-a-chip work has been published this week in Nature Communications. 350 mini-guts on-a-chip, 20,000 data points, the largest organ-on-a-chip dataset ever published! The paper features the all new 3-lane OrganoPlate®, supporting barrier integrity and transport assays in even more complex tissue models.

Our colleague Elena Naumovska is a major contributor to this work. She joined us last year from the arctic circle to work on gut-on-a-chip models in a collaboration with Galapagos and Sheffield University.

And finally, we're looking forward to see you at no less than 6 conferences in the coming 6 weeks, starting next week at the WC10 Congress 2017 in Seattle.

With kind regards, Jos Joore Managing Director, MIMETAS

GlaxoSmithKline opened its new $56.6 million vaccines plant in Montrose, Scotland, that will manufacture sterile aluminum salts and includes a microbiology lab. But the small addition comes as a much bigger project has been canceled. 

Creatv MicroTech, a biotechnology company developing noninvasive diagnostics for cancer, has received a $250,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) to test the company's CellSieveTM system for determination of residual disease in lung cancer patients after chemoradiation therapy, and for early detection of lung cancer recurrence. Creatv MicroTech's discovery of a very large cell, the cancer associated macrophagelike cell (CAML), in patient blood has enabled more informative and reliable blood based cancer diagnostics. The presence of the CAML biomarker indicates the presence of cancer. Creatv developed CellSieveTM technology to capture and analyze CAMLs. In collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Creatv will assess the use of CAMLs in lung cancer patients to determine residual disease following treatment. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, with an estimated 158,040 deaths (86,380 men and 71,660 women) from this disease in 2015. Ideally, treatment should be continued as long as necessary and stopped only after the cancer has been eradicated. The problem is that standard imaging techniques, CT and MRI, cannot detect small residual cancers, and thus treatment regimens may be insufficient for a patient's individual need. The goal of Creatv's study is to determine the point at which chemoradiation should be stopped, reducing the likelihood of recurrence. "We are honored to be recognized for the progress we have made in developing precision blood-based cancer diagnostics," said Cha-Mei Tang PhD, President and CEO of Creatv MicroTech. "Our collaboration with the world renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center and support from the NIH will further demonstrate the value and utility of the CellSieveTM system and CAMLs in the battle against cancer and will ultimately save lives."

Join us on Thursday, August 24 for the 2017-18 Fall Term FAES Graduate School Open House to meet and mingle with FAES faculty. Bring yourself, a friend, and your questions about registering for the Fall 2017 courses. The event will be held in the FAES Academic Center, Building 10, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 4:00 - 6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served!

Once considered a potential Democratic challenger to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan next year, John Delaney has set his sights higher — much higher. The three-term representative of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District is aiming to unseat President Trump with a promise to jump-start the U.S. economy by bringing innovation and entrepreneurship to Washington.

Job Summary: BioFactura is seeking highly motivated applicants with an entrepreneurial spirit for an open position in our biosimilar development programs. We are looking for qualified candidates with a masters or doctoral degree in the life sciences with highly relevant skills and bench experience. The selected candidate will participate in the development and validation of various biosimilar product assays. In this position, the candidate will be responsible for planning, conducting, execution and analysis of experiments using various techniques in protein analysis. Relevant skills include HPLC/U-HPLC (HILIC, RP, SEC, CEX, AEX, affinity), capillary electrophoresis (CE), mass spec, SDS-PAGE, IEF, ELISA, qPCR. Knowledge of protein purification methods and process development/scale-up is a plus. Knowledge of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) including analytical method qualification/validation and current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) are desired. Experience in the preparation and delivery of oral and written presentations as well as participation in the preparation and submission of grants and/or manuscripts for publication are a plus. Excellent communication skills and the ability to analyze and interpret data, design appropriately controlled experiments independently, and maintain up-to-date laboratory notebooks are a must. This is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience with an innovative, small, young Biotech company and build a career in the biopharmaceutical industry. Candidates should feel comfortable working in a high risk/potential high reward environment and able to work overtime and weekends as project needs are determined.

Wed, October 25, 2017

PITCH. NETWORK. LEARN. BE INSPIRED.

TEDCO’s 7th Annual Entrepreneur Expo will bring together all of Maryland’s entrepreneurial resources from across the state into one place, at one time.

You can expect to see 700+ of the region’s top entrepreneurs, small and large business executives, angel and venture capital investors, federal and state economic development officials, university leaders and legislators.

Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and Natco announced the final ANDA approval of Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The product, as the first generic, will be launched shortly.

Natco’s Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) are generic equivalents of Shire Development LLC’s Fosrenol Chewable Tablets 500 mg, 750 mg and 1000 mg. Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) are indicated to reduce serum phosphate in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD).

CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE American: CVM) today announced it has received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stating that the clinical hold that had been imposed on the Company's Phase 3 cancer study with Multikine* (Leukocyte Interleukin, Inj.) has been removed and that all clinical trial activities under this Investigational New Drug application (IND) may resume.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Sucampo) (Nasdaq:SCMP), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the publication of results from a Phase 1/2a study of intrathecal administration of VTS-270, a 2-hydoxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) under investigation for treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 (NPC-1). The results of the study were published in the August 10, 2017 issue of The Lancet and can be found at http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)31465-4.pdf.

25-year biopharma industry veteran joins the Company to drive further growth of its innovative high-performance cell engineering platform for use in commercial drug development

MaxCyte, a US-based global company dedicated to driving the acceleration of the discovery, development, manufacturing and commercialization of next-generation, cell-based medicines, announced today that it has appointed Brad Calvin, a 25-year veteran within the drug development and biotechnology industries, as Executive Vice President of Global Marketing. In his role, Mr. Calvin is responsible for leading MaxCyte’s marketing function to drive growth of the Company’s drug discovery and cell therapy business.

Doug Doerfler, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to have someone of Brad’s caliber join MaxCyte to lead our marketing and market development efforts. Brad’s broad biopharmaceutical industry experience has provided him with an in-depth understanding of working across global markets and supporting all phases of product life cycles. His appointment comes at an opportune time for the Company, as we continue to develop new offerings based on our Flow Electroporation® Technology.”

From companies created to work in best in today's new value-based healthcare system to precision medicine, data analytics and interoperability, you can count on a healthcare IT landscape that is always in flux, thanks to new approaches driven by entrepreneurs who are adept at shaking things up.

This gallery highlights some of the most promising new companies and the founders and CEOs who are making news in 2017. Healthcare IT News is keeping tabs on the most exciting and promising new ventures.

U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, JD ‘67, returned to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), to tour the UM BioPark and host a roundtable discussion with university leaders and biomedical innovators, highlighting such topics as bipartisan solutions to health care policy and ways to encourage small business innovation.

“I always get excited being here,” said Cardin as he kicked off the discussion Aug. 10. “It does energize me. After what I’ve just gone through this month in the United States Senate, it’s good to be here, to realize there is real life going on in our communities.”

You don't have to go to Johns Hopkins University to make a lot of money. In fact, you can make more money by going elsewhere in Maryland. The U.S. Department of Education offers a College Scorecard that provides would-be attendees many of the resources they need in deciding where to apply and, ultimately, where to attend.

The Trump administration is pushing for dramatic cutbacks at the National Institutes of Health. The proposed $5.8 billion cut from the agency's annual $32 billion budget would translate into 5,000 to 8,000 fewer grants per year for basic medical research.

But the impact of such cuts would actually be much broader, totaling $15 billion in lost economic activity and 90,000 jobs lost nationwide.