Biohealth Innovation
The Frederick Innovative Technology Center Inc. is looking for business leaders to volunteer for its board of directors.
Preference will be given to those in private industry in the fields of life sciences, advance technology, finance, marketing and entrepreneur. The board meets the fourth Monday of each month.
Happy 10th anniversary to the National Institutes of Health’s Common Fund! It’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade since I joined then-NIH Director Elias Zerhouni at the National Press Club to launch this trans-NIH effort to catalyze innovation and speed progress across many fields of biomedical research.
Allow me to take this opportunity to share just a bit of the history and a few of the many achievements of this bold new approach to the support of science.
Healthcare Interactive Inc. — which sells Web-based software for companies to monitor medical costs in real time — has raised $8 million in funding.
The Series A funding in the Glenwood, Maryland-based company came from Grotech Ventures, which has more than $1.3 billion under management, and Harbert Venture Partners, an emerging growth-stage investor with $200 million under management.
It’s still a good time to go public.
Twenty-eight venture-backed companies completed initial public offerings during the second quarter, raising $4.9 billion. That was a 45 percent increase in dollars raised compared to the previous quarter, according to an analysis by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of more than 20 IPOs at venture-backed companies.
A cadre of venture capital firms could cash in from the wave of Bay Area biotech initial public offerings in the first half of the year.
Stalwart VCs such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of Menlo Park and Domain Associates are among the venture capital firms whose names pop up most often in the IPOs of local life sciences companies through June. Among the other VCs are DAG Ventures of Palo Alto and Essex Woodlands Health Ventures in Palo Alto.
Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUPN), today announced the execution of a royalty acquisition agreement ("Agreement") with HealthCare Royalty Partners ("HC Royalty"). Per the Agreement, HC Royalty will make a $30 million cash payment to Supernus in consideration for acquiring from Supernus certain royalty and milestone rights related to the commercialization of Orenitram(TM) (treprostinil) Extended-Release Tablets by Supernus' partner United Therapeutics Corporation. Supernus will retain full ownership of the Royalty Rights after a certain threshold has been reached per the terms of the Agreement.
"We are pleased to have completed this royalty transaction, which strengthens our balance sheet and enhances our financial flexibility," said Jack Khattar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Supernus. "The transaction allows us to partially monetize our royalty stream from Orenitram(TM) for a significant cash consideration while positioning Supernus to further benefit from the future upside potential of the product."
Alexandria-based venture capital firm Columbia Capital is planning a $425 million fund according to SEC filings reported in the Washington Business Journal. The firm invests in information technology, especially infrastructure, wireless spectrum and other related fields. It's done plenty of investing around D.C. in the quarter century since it was founded. Millennial Media, Broadsoft, Virtustream and Summit IG are all on the list of local companies invested in.
Not that Columbia limits itself geographically. It led a $23 million round of funding for Seattle-based 2nd Watch in November. According to WBJ, it even occasionally builds a company from scratch to satisfy some IT need, like Cloud Sherpas, which provides enterprise cloud-based services. Whether or not that will be the path Columbia takes this time remains to be seen, but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that the fund is being raised for creation rather than strictly investment.
Funding and Research Opportunities
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notice:
Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.
ORTHOMETRIX, INC. announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with ENCORE PATH, INC. to market, sell and service worldwide the Tailwind™ arm rehabilitation device. The Tailwind™ is a patented Bilateral Arm Trainer with Rhythmic Auditory Cueing (BATRAC) that was developed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Services and licensed to Encore Path, Inc., a portfolio company of the New Ventures Department of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The Tailwind has been shown to improve arm movement in stroke patients with paralysis. It will be initially marketed in Asia and in Israel, and then in the U.S. after a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) HCPCS code is obtained for use of the Tailwind as a durable medical equipment (DME). Commenting on this agreement, Reynald Bonmati, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orthometrix, stated, “I am very pleased to partner with Encore Path and the University of Maryland. The Tailwind™ for upper-limb rehabilitation of stroke patients is a natural addition to our SmartStep® Biofeedback system for lower-limb rehabilitation, developed and manufactured by our partner Andante Medical Devices, Inc. Orthometrix, Andante and Encore Path are currently working on the manufacturing of the Tailwind™ by Andante.
The Tailwind was developed by physicians from the University of Maryland specializing in physical therapy and rehabilitation after a decade of scientific research. Clinical studies have shown that the device helps improve arm mobility, function, and range of motion in patients with even severe paralysis. Representatives from the University of Maryland’s New Ventures Department facilitated the introduction of Encore Path, Inc. and Orthometrix, Inc. and the subsequent agreement. The University of Maryland Ventures is designed to fuel the growth of the University’s startups, particularly those based upon intellectual property developed by physicians at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park.
It looks like Valeritas, which is developing insulin pumps for Type 2 diabetes, is in the midst of raising another big round of cash.
The New Jersey medical device company filed paperwork with the SEC indicating it’s raised about $22 million in a round that could go as high as $45 million.
Personalized medicine (PMx), medical treatment tailored to specific patient populations based on their genetic or molecular biology profiles, has long been heralded as the next big thing in healthcare. It’s been about 16 years since Genentech launched Herceptin, a drug for breast cancer patients with a specific genetic mutation. At the time, Herceptin seemed to usher in a revolution for how drugs would be developed and patients would be cured.
In that new version of care, drugs could be tailored to a patient’s specific biochemical profile, dramatically improving efficacy rates and reducing the system-wide costs and complications associated with one-size-fits-all medications. For pharmaceutical manufacturers, this approach had the potential to improve sales and profits through a radically new business model: differentiated products for segmented populations (see “A Strategist’s Guide to Personalized Medicine,” by Avi Kulkarni and Nelia Padilla McGreevy, s+b, Winter 2012).
Storrer will oversee strategy, expansion and operation of Strand Genomics Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Strand Life Sciences in North America. Strand is a leader in technology innovations for personalized medicine using genomics in over 2,000 clinical and research institutions worldwide. By enhancing sequence-based diagnostics and clinical genomic data interpretation using a strong foundation of computational, scientific, and medical expertise Strand is bringing individualized medicine to the world.
“We are excited to have Scott Storrer join our team,” said Dr. Vijay Chandru, Chairman and CEO of Strand. “Storrer’s twenty plus years of executive experience leading and growing profitable businesses in the U.S. healthcare industry across payer, provider and personalized medicine sectors will help develop a strong presence for Strand in North America.”
Originating as a solution to educate health workers in developing countries, emocha is now a powerful platform that allows researchers and clinicians to use mobile data capture, health education, and communication to address the challenges of adherence, linkage to care, and patient data management across a myriad of use cases. Sebastian Seiguer, CEO and Founder of emocha, and Morad Elmi, Director of Marketing, spoke with us about the latest from this Baltimore-based startup.
The adoption of IT in healthcare systems has, in general, followed the same pattern as other industries. In the 1950s, when institutions began using new technology to automate highly standardized and repetitive tasks such as accounting and payroll, healthcare payors and other industry stakeholders also began using IT to process vast amounts of statistical data. Twenty years later, the second wave of IT adoption arrived. It did two things: it helped integrate different parts of core processes (manufacturing and HR, for example) within individual organizations, and it supported B2B processes such as supply-chain management for different institutions within and outside individual industries. As for its effects on the healthcare sector, this second wave of IT adoption helped bring about, for example, the electronic health card in Germany. It was also a catalyst for the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act in the United States—an effort to promote the adoption of health-information technology—and the National Programme for IT in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Regardless of their immediate impact, these programs helped create an important and powerful infrastructure that certainly will be useful in the future.
Biopharma firms continued to attract US venture capital investment in Q1 according to new analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which says the number of firms that received backing is encouraging.
The analysis – part of the “MoneyTree” report published by PwC and the National Venture Capital Association in April – showed that the biotechnology sector garnered $1.1bn from venture capitalists in Q1, up from $871m in the equivalent period in 2013.
Anyone who wants a job next year at Anne Arundel Medical Center -- whether as a surgeon or security guard -- will have to prove they don't smoke or use tobacco.
The Annapolis hospital's new hiring policy might be controversial, but it is legal in Maryland and more than half of the United States. And it's a type of job screening that is gaining favor with employers -- from hospitals to companies such as Alaska Airlines -- trying to control rising health costs and cultivate a healthier, more productive workforce.
Former Johns Hopkins University college student Alex Koren wants to make a difference.
Koren feels he has a better opportunity of doing that by dropping out of Johns Hopkins, and devoting all of his time to his ideas on a Thiel Fellowship.
Two Montgomery County companies each took home the top prize of $100,000 in their category as part of the 2014 InvestMaryland Challenge.
Bethesda-based life sciences company, Brain Sentry, won for its helmet-mounted sensor used to identify team sport players who should be evaluated for a concussion. Gaithersburg-based IT company, ClickMedix, won its catergory for technology aimed at helping physicians and health organizations maximize the number of patients they are able to serve.
Both companies were also recipients of the Kauffman FastTrac award entitling them to enroll in any FastTrac course and receiving a copy of the new Kauffman release -- "Chance & Intent: Managing the Risks of Innovation & Entrepreneurship"
Rockville biotechnology company Cellphire is the latest receipient of funding via the State’s InvestMaryland program, receiving $1 million last month!
Cellphire is developing stabilized cellular products, including freeze-dried platelets that can be stored for years and used in a range of advanced therapeutic and diagnostic applications including sports medicine, plastic surgery and dentistry. The company received a contract last year worth up to $57 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research Defense Authority, a division of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The InvestMaryland funding will be used to continue development of the company’s freeze-dried platelet product, Thrombosomes, and move it closer to winning FDA approval.
On June 24, UBI Index announced the Global Top 25 University Business Incubators of 2014. We would like to thank all participants of this year's benchmark for great efforts in supporting entrepreneurs and helping the industry understand the importance of incubation.
Valuations on venture-backed companies jumped again in the second quarter as the number of IPOs and the amount VCs invested in startups both hit post-dot-com highs, a new report from PitchBook Data shows.
The total amount invested has climbed steadily each quarter in the past year, jumping from $12.8 billion in Q2 of 2013 to $21.5 billion in the same period this year. The $13.9 billion raised in 76 new venture funds is also a recent high.
University of Maryland, a national leader in entrepreneurship education and venture creation, announces it will offer a new master's degree program in technology entrepreneurship starting this fall.
The 30-credit, 15-month Master of Technology Entrepreneurship, available online to current and aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide, features the university's most advanced and comprehensive entrepreneurship curriculum to date, taking students from concept development and prototyping to business model generation and customer validation, as well as legal aspects of entrepreneurship, financial and innovation management, and effective growth strategies.
A survey of healthcare and life science professionals and investors suggests healthcare M&A activity will surge past 2013 levels when there were 394 deals valued at $97 billion. The report by Bass Berry & Sims and Mergermarket indicates that market disruption, brought on by the Affordable Care Act, will lead to more consolidation deals across healthcare facilities, life science and healthcare IT companies.
The Affordable Care Act and HITECH Act are etched into the heart of most of these deals. That’s apparent from the facilities trying to figure out ways to cope with reduced Medicare reimbursements to the technology hospitals will need to adopt to fit in with change in payment models in the future. They also need to comply with electronic medical record requirements. Here are six trends that illustrate and factor in to the survey’s outlook.
Funding and Research Opportunities
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notice:
Requests for Applications:
Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.
Take a break from the Summer heat with our sponsor, Hydro Service and Supplies, and join us for another great networking event on July 9th from 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. at American Tap Room in Rockville, MD. This location is a short walk from the Metro located in the Rockville Town Center.
Hydro Service and Supplies, Inc. provides a versatile range of quality ultrapure water systems and products, from large scale central production systems to point-of-use laboratory systems. Since 1967, Hydro has been an industry leader by combining synergistic engineering and innovative designs with high-performance component selections, superior materials of construction, and precision manufacturing that result in high quality ultrapure water systems.
Hydro is dedicated to providing quality products and professional support from our experienced sales, engineering and service teams. Hydro serves Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Microelectronic, Research, Academic, Medical/Clinical, Food and Beverage, and Industrial applications. In addition, Hydro offers engineering services, turn-key installation, start-up and commissioning, validation support, PLC programming, water testing services and reliable service support 24/7/365.
Leslie Ford Weber, interim executive director of Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus, has been appointed to a board of directors executive committee position with the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.
Weber will serve a yearlong term as vice chair of the economic development committee. She shares the responsibility with Stewart Edelstein, executive director at the Universities at Shady Grove.
The heart is more forgiving than you may think — especially to adults who try to take charge of their health, a new Northwestern Medicine® study has found.
When adults in their 30s and 40s decide to drop unhealthy habits that are harmful to their heart and embrace healthy lifestyle changes, they can control and potentially even reverse the natural progression of coronary artery disease, scientists found.
Educational experts have been telling us the future of employment opportunity will be in jobs requiring science, technology, engineering or mathematics training. At least in the D.C. area, the future is now.
A new study from the Brookings Institution finds the majority (55.1 percent) of job postings in the Washington area in the first quarter of 2013 required STEM skills. And not rudimentary skills either. More than 48 percent of all job postings required STEM skills and at least a bachelor's degree.
The Johns Hopkins University has joined the National Science Foundation‘s National Innovation Network and becomes the fourth member university in the NSF Innovation Corps regional collaboration led by the University of Maryland, along with the George Washington University and Virginia Tech.
The NSF has approved a request from the three original universities to officially include Johns Hopkins in the I-Corps program’s “node” in the Mid-Atlantic called DC I-Corps, which was formed last year with $3.75 million in NSF funding.
GSK and Save the Children have announced the second annual $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award, which was established to identify and reward innovations in healthcare that have proven successful in reducing child deaths in developing countries.
Organizations from across the developing world can nominate examples of innovative healthcare approaches they have discovered or implemented. These approaches must have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated. Special attention will be given to work that aims to increase the quality of, or access to, healthcare for newborns.
Whenever Baltimore-area companies sell themselves to out-of-state firms, economists and local leaders alike bemoan the loss. Another headquarters gone. Fewer corporate decision-makers here. Possible job cuts.
But Silicon Valley's deals for two Columbia firms — the planned Micros Systems acquisition, announced last week, and Sourcefire last year — strike local entrepreneurs in an entirely different way.
Reston-based New Atlantic Ventures joined a handful of other venture investors in backing Truveris, a New York startup whose cloud-based platform helps drive down the cost to companies of providing prescription drug benefits.
NAV Fund, an existing investor, joined New Leaf Venture Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners and First Round in Truveris' $12.75 million Series C round, which was led by Canaan Partners.
Maryland has a new strategy for growing biotechnology business: Roll out the welcome mat for international companies.
International bio companies looking to break into the American market must first get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA regulates medical devices and drugs. The approval process can be complicated even for American companies that are somewhat familiar with the agency.
Niall O’Donnell fancies himself an archaeologist of the pharmaceutical persuasion. His firm, RiverVest Ventures, is scoping out the failed and forgotten drugs of big pharma, building companies to repurpose these benched meds for new indications.
The aim is to find drugs that have passed for safety in clinical trials, but may have shown limited efficacy in the initial disease they aimed to treat.
Today, Under Armour (NYSE:UA), the global leader in sports performance and innovation, announced plans for the 2014 Under Armour Future Show: The Connected Fitness Innovation Challenge, which asks innovators to submit concepts for the next generation of game-changing digital experiences, through apps and wearable technology, while utilizing the MapMyFitness software. Finalists will present their concepts to the Brand's executive team in October, 2014 at Under Armour's global headquarters in Baltimore, MD for a chance to win the Grand Prize of $50,000. Winners may then be eligible for an additional investment of up to $150,000. Innovators can now submit their ideas and innovations at idea.underarmour.com for consideration.
Entering its fourth year, Under Armour's Future Show rewards the Brand's innovation-inspired consumer base, incentivizing them to design new products that align with the Brand's forward-thinking vision. The 2014 Future Show will identify the most creative minds in engineering and software development who can implement wearable, wireless and embedded apparel-based technology addressing one or more of the following needs: fitness assessment and training, readiness and recovery, sleep analysis or other novel usages that will help make athletes better.