Biohealth Innovation
Venture capital firms—and the high-tech startups they support—historically concentrated in suburban office parks, such as Silicon Valley and North Carolina’s Research Triangle.
Richard Florida, co-founder and editor of The Atlantic Cities and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, has crunched the available data and found (along with some other studies) a shift underway within the venture capital community away from the suburbs and towards urban areas.
Business, civic, and political leaders in St. Louis are coming together to raise $100 million in private funds over the next five years to support the Regional Entrepreneurial Initiative, a new effort aimed at helping emerging regional businesses grow and thrive. The project was launched with funding from the federal government and will draw on several ongoing fundraising initiatives in the community. About 80 percent of the funds will be used to provide capital support for startup businesses, with the remaining 20 percent directed toward entrepreneurial support and mentoring, according to the St. Louis Beacon.
In April 2012, the city and county of St. Louis invited stakeholders to develop a regional economic development strategy that would guide efforts to grow and retain high-growth startups. The St. Louis Regional Entrepreneurship Initative Report received financial assistance from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the state of Missouri, and the St. Louis County Economic Council. The findings of the report suggest that the St. Louis region has a growing cluster of resources to support entrepreneurship, but that they are not of uniform quality and not distributed evenly across sectors. For example, the region's bioscience sector is relatively well-supported through the efforts of such organizations at BioSTL, BioGenerator and the Helix Center Biotech Incubator. Information technology companies, however, have few local organizations and programs to rely on for support. Resources for the agricultural, energy and advanced manufacturing sectors remain scarce and uncoordinated.
The NIH has been faced with considerable difficulties as of late in terms of finding the required means to continue moving science forward at the early stage. However, the group recently announced a commitment of $12.7 million to a novel project – funding further research on assets that have been cast-off by big pharma in key indication areas that represent a significant unmet medical need (e.g. Alzheimers, Duchenne, etc.). The initiative has been fittingly named Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules, and it may be a groundbreaking solution to several problems facing drug development today. These include reducing time to market, alleviating early stage investment risk, and creating even more incentive for research scientists to orient themselves towards commercialization of research.
The America Invents Act (AIA), also known as the “patent reform bill,” is designed to modernize the U.S. patent system. One provision of the new bill, that went into effect in March, converts the United States from first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to-file system. You’ve had a few months to get used to the new law, but if you’re still wondering how it could affect biotech and medical-device products you invent, you’re not alone.
The new first-inventor-to-file patent law means that the first person or company to file a patent application on an invention has the right to pursue the patent on it. While this is new in the U.S., it’s the system that’s already being used in every other country in the world. So now the United States should be in synch with the rest of the world, right? Well, not quite.
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.
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notice:
Request for Information:
The Department of Defense last week announced the establishment of the world’s first brain tissue repository on the Walter Reed Campus to help researchers better understand traumatic brain injury (TBI).
TBI is common among veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which led to the opening of The Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine Brain Tissue Repository for Traumatic Brain Injury at the Uniformed Services University on the campus.
The University Economic Development Association (UEDA) is currently seeking nominations for its annual Awards of Excellence program, which recognizes leading edge university-based economic development initiatives from across the country. The Awards of Excellence Program recognizes higher education institutions and their partners who are transforming their campuses into engines of economic prosperity through creative initiatives in five categories:
June 27th, 3:30-5:30pm
Join Nicholas P. Jones, Benjamin T. Rome Dean, Whiting School of Engineering to celebrate the launch of FastForward.
There are a few spots left.
RSVP today!
410-516-8723 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Get a preview of the innovative technologies created by Johns Hopkins faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students in the FastForward accelerator and see examples of entrepreneurship from across the university. Learn how FastForward, a unique innovation system, can increase the probability of a startup's success.
The University of Maryland (UM) BioPark announced today that Ocular Proteomics, LLC (OPL), a startup biotechnology company leveraging a new class of biomarkers found in vitreous fluid of the eye to more accurately diagnose and treat retinal diseases, has recently relocated to Building One of the BioPark from Baltimore County. Led by world-renowned and internationally respected retinal surgeon Bert M. Glaser, M.D., OPL is a spin out of the National Retina Institute. OPL’s move to the BioPark comes on the heels of the company’s $1.2 million dollar Small Business Innovation in Research (SBIR) phase 2 grant from the National Institutes of Health. In its new space, OPL will be conducting the research phase of a multi-center clinical trial, which will include 200 patients with macular degeneration.
Said Jim Hughes, President, Research Park Corporation, University of Maryland Baltimore, “The BioPark has once again attracted an innovative and important start-up to our location. We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Glaser and Ocular Proteomics to our roster of commercial tenants. Dr. Glaser founded Ocular Proteomics to use personalized medicine to drastically change the way blinding diseases are diagnosed and treated.”
AstraZeneca (STO:AZN)(LSE:AZN) today announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, and NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. have entered into an exclusive agreement to discover, develop and commercialise novel therapeutics from NGM’s enteroendocrine cell (EEC) programme for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
EECs represent less than 1% of all gastrointestinal (GI) cells, but produce virtually all of the known GI hormones, including GLP-1. EECs are an underexplored source of novel hormones that could play a major role in the positive and negative regulation of metabolism and glucose homeostasis. NGM has established a proprietary platform capable of isolating and analysing EECs in order to identify novel secreted peptide hormones that are potentially linked to the profound metabolic effects of bariatric surgery and serve as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases.
It’s a popular sport among startups and the mobile vendor community to figure out what physicians are willing to do on their tablets and smartphones. It has to be said that some of them have come up with some pretty compelling approaches to deepen the relationship between physicians and their mobile devices.
But what is really going on in their practices? In two studies generated from a survey by AmericanEHRPartners of 1,400 with responses from about 696 physicians and 150 allied health professionals has uncovered some interesting information. AmericanEHRPartners was formed in 2010 by formed by Cientis Technologies and the American College of Physicians to help physicians compare and implement electronic health records.
Irene Pollin, the widow of the late Washington sports team owner Abe Pollin, has donated $10 million to a Johns Hopkins University center for the prevention of heart disease.
Hopkins announced Thursday that Pollin’s gift will support the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease in the division of cardiology.
Aside from memory loss and cognitive impairments, often the most difficult aspect of caring for people with dementia is treating their disruptive changes in behavior.
With no reliable medications to treat them and limited information for caregivers regarding alternative therapies, these behavior changes are frequently the source of increased upset, stress and burden to families and often result in nursing home placement.
Robert Langer shares the experiences and lessons learned through his involvement with more than two dozen biotech startups.
I started my first company in 1987 because I realized it was an effective path for transforming science into life-saving and life-improving inventions. Startup companies provide one means for accomplishing ends that interested me: creating products that have a positive effect on human health. I did this first with a colleague (Box 1), but through the years I have also started many companies with students and postdocs in my MIT lab.
6/28 DEADLINE to reserve your place in line for Maryland’s
FY2014 Biotechnology Investor Incentive Tax Credits.
$10M (up to $1.5M/co.) distributed first come-first served to investors in MD QMBCs*:
QMBC requirements include:
If your firm qualifies for QMBC certification by Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), your investors may be able to receive a 50% credit on their investments in your company.
6/28 is the deadline to apply to receive a pin number providing access to the 7/8/13 electronic line-up for FY 2014 BIITC funds.
For more information regarding the BIITC and other state funding programs and access to the BIITC investor and company application forms on the DBED web site, check online: www.Bio.Maryland.gov.
*QMBC status will not be determined until after the electronic line-up as applications are being reviewed.
**Additional funds may be available after those requested at the initial electronic line-up on 7/8/2013.
Many times when I talk with small businesses, they don't fully understand the difference between a Federal Grant and a Federal Contract. It is important for a small business to completely understand if their government funds are coming from a grant or a contract. The terms and conditions surrounding each have somewhat unique requirements that may have implications on how the business handles the award and, in particular, the accounting related to that award.
The Government defines the difference in fairly easy to understand terms (for the government) at the grants.gov website:
A Grant is an award of financial assistance, the principal purpose of which is to transfer a thing of value from a federal agency to a recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States (see 31 U.S.C. 6101(3)). A grant is distinguished from a contract, which is used to acquire property or services for the federal government's direct benefit or use.
The NIH is one of the 'easier' federal agencies to apply to because every year it issues an Omnibus Solicitation, requesting investigator- initiated topics. This means that rather than telling you exactly which projects they will fund, the NIH asks you, the investigator, to come up with the ideas.
As long as these ideas are related to Human Health, have the requisite level of Technological Innovation and Commercial Potential, they may be appropriate for SBIR/STTR. However, you still need to do some homework to make sure your idea fits within the research interests of the NIH's Institutes and Centers. So before you put a lot of work into developing your proposal, there are a few things you can do:
In the year following its groundbreaking last June, all aspects of Bioscience Connecticut have moved forward on time and on budget. Of note, the project has created about 500 construction and related jobs on the UConn Health Center campus in its first year, including higher-than-required averages for small business participation and 85 percent of all work going to Connecticut-based contractors. The number of construction jobs will rise significantly over the next three years.
“Bioscience Connecticut was an important first step in positioning Connecticut as a leader in the industry,” said Governor Dannel P. Malloy. “This investment, in conjunction with the new Bioscience Innovation Fund and our other efforts, not only creates thousands of good paying jobs with good benefits, but also highlights the commitment we have to growing this sector of our economy. Our vigorous approach to establishing long-term partnerships between our universities, medical centers, and private secto
University of Maryland, Baltimore campus President Jay A. Perman, M.D., and University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., wish to announce the establishment of a new center to unite research scientists and physicians across disciplines. The center will employ these interdisciplinary connections to enhance the use of cutting edge medical science such as genomics and personalized medicine to accelerate research discoveries and improve health care outcomes. Participants in the new University of Maryland Center for Health-Related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB) will collaborate with computer scientists, engineers, life scientists and others at a similar center at the University of Maryland, College Park campus, together forming a joint center supported by the M-Power Maryland initiative.
University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., with the concurrence of President Perman, has appointed as co-director of the new center Owen White, Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of Bioinformatics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Institute for Genome Sciences.
Emory University has launched a public-private drug development enterprise that will transition scientific discoveries more rapidly and efficiently from university laboratories into the marketplace. The new venture is expected to help address worldwide drug development and commercialization needs.
Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory, LLC (DRIVE) is a not-for-profit company separate from, but wholly owned by Emory.
On Tuesday, GE Healthcare announced plans to invest $2 billion over the next five years on the development of software for health systems and applications, Healthcare IT News reports.
To develop the software, the company will work with the GE Software Center of Excellence in San Ramon, Calif., in addition to several other research and development firms across the world (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 6/12).
On May 31, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reissued its Omnibus Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs in order to implement venture capital provisions of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011.
HHS notice NOT-OD-13-071 will allow small business concerns that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital operating companies (VCOCs), hedge funds and/or private equity firms to apply for the NIH SBIR program and compete for up to 25 percent of NIH’s SBIR set-aside in the Omnibus FOA or any other NIH SBIR funding announcement issued hereafter. With this notice, NIH is the first agency to elect to use its authority under Section 5107 of the reauthorization to make awards to majority-owned firms, signaling new and significant opportunities for venture capital in the future.
UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN) is the second bidder for the dedicated biotech incubator being set up by the Chief Scientist's incubator program at the Ministry of the Economy, sources inform "Globes."
The company will bid for the incubator tender against a consortium of OrbiMed venture capital fund and healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius opens Health Datapalooza IV with an emphatic introduction speech asking those in attendance to continue driving more ideas and innovation in data and information exchange to improve the future of the US health system.
The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) and Maryland Department of Business of Economic Development (DBED) have announced the creation of Advance Maryland, a business program designed to support growth companies, an integral component in the prosperity and sustainability of local economies. Advance Maryland was established to provide resources targeted to second-stage companies. These companies are growth-oriented and have moved beyond the startup phase. They are at the forefront of job creation and critical to vibrant economies. In contrast to traditional business assistance which focuses on finances, business plans and operational issues,
Advance Maryland addresses strategic growth challenges, from developing new markets and refining business models, to gaining access to competitive intelligence. “Maryland has a plethora of organizations and resources devoted to the startup community, but we are limited when it comes to resources for second stage companies. The statistics show how essential it is to recognize these companies and make the necessary tools available to support their growth,” stated Jen Gunner, COO of EAGB and Co-Program Manager of Advance Maryland. Youreconomy.com states that between 1995 and 2009, second-stage companies represented eleven percent of U.S. establishments, but generated more than thirty six percent of jobs and thirty eight percent of sales.