WIScience Scholarship: The Premier Catalyst for Developing Women Leaders in Science

Are you nearing completion of your graduate degree or fellowship, and wondering how you’re going to transition into the healthcare industry? Do you get nervous thinking about how to identify the career in healthcare that fits you best?  Do you wish you had a mentor to discuss these concerns with?  If so, then you are the perfect candidate to apply for the WIScience Scholarship: The Premier Catalyst for Developing Women Leaders in Science offered by the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). 

The Maryland House of Delegates has passed a measure to adjust how money from a state venture capital fund can be used to try to make it more effective.

The House voted 107-25 on Saturday for the bill. That sends it to the Senate to consider amendments delegates made to the measure.

Those who join MedImmune feel a sense of ownership about their future. They thrive with a recognized leader in the biotechnology industry and the wholly-owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca plc.

Here, you will join passionate professionals who advance science, technology and medicine to develop products designed to help people live better lives. You will excel in an environment characterized by respect, integrity and growth opportunities…that encourages both individual contribution and collaborative entrepreneurial thinking. Our products and/or product candidates are designed to address areas of need in infection, oncology, respiratory disease and inflammation, cardiovascular/gastrointestinal disease and neuroscience. Explore a MedImmune career as we strive to better more lives, more often, around the world.

GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK ) recently announced that it has initiated a phase III study to evaluate the use of Benlysta (belimumab) in patients suffering from anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) positive vasculitis.

The multi-centre, randomized, double-blind phase III study will assess the efficacy and safety profile of Benlysta in combination with azathioprine as a maintenance therapy in ANCA positive vasculitis patients.

There’s an interesting trend I’ve noticed with at least one healthcare accelerator I have been tracking. The members of the startups for the most part have increasingly more industry experience and seem more adept at finding pain points and delivering a workable solution to members of the healthcare ecosystem. And if the successes of Blueprint Health’s latest graduating class are anything to go by, healthcare companies are getting increasingly receptive to working with startups that can help them address some of the demands of the Affordable Care Act and some of its impacts with more innovative solutions.

Seeking to maximize ongoing research, innovative ideas and revenue-generating opportunities, more schools are creating entrepreneur-in-residence programs -- and letting the experts do the work.

With millions of dollars of research funding and teams of experts at their disposal, more universities are seeking ways to turn research breakthroughs into business opportunities.

Among 400 applications from 22 countries, 13 early stage healthcare companies have been chosen for a three-year entrepreneurship class run by StartUp Health and GE, according to a statement from the companies. The class members will each be assigned a GE mentor who matches their business model and get access to the resources the Fortune 50 company can wield to help scale their consumer health innovations. That could include working with GE Healthymagination, GE Healthcare, GE Capital, or some of its business units, depending on the members’ specific needs.

AstraZeneca 's ( AZN ) worldwide biologics research and development (R&D) unit, MedImmune recently acquired AlphaCore Pharma, a biotechnology company based in Michigan. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the companies.

We note that the acquisition of AlphaCore Pharma adds ACP-501 (a recombinant human lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase/ LCAT enzyme) to AstraZeneca's pipeline. The candidate is being developed for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and other high-risk atherosclerosis conditions for the rapid removal of tissue cholesterol.

Digital health incubator Rock Health released data today that shows an increase in funding for med-tech startups in the first quarter of 2013.

Thirty-seven health deals were valued at a total of $365 million, which is 35 percent higher than the first quarter of 2012, “suggesting that 2013 will be another record year for the digital health industry,” the blog post reads.

A big-data revolution is under way in health care. Start with the vastly increased supply of information. Over the last decade, pharmaceutical companies have been aggregating years of research and development data into medical databases, while payors and providers have digitized their patient records. Meanwhile, the US federal government and other public stakeholders have been opening their vast stores of health-care knowledge, including data from clinical trials and information on patients covered under public insurance programs. In parallel, recent technical advances have made it easier to collect and analyze information from multiple sources—a major benefit in health care, since data for a single patient may come from various payors, hospitals, laboratories, and physician offices.

Johns Hopkins researcher Se-Jin Lee was named Wednesday as the 2013 recipient of the Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments in medical research that pave the way to conquering disease. It is awarded each year to an ethnic Korean and is sometimes referred to as “Korea's Nobel.”

Lee is best known for his discovery of myostatin, a hormone that regulates muscle mass, and related work that lays the foundation for new therapies for conditions such as muscle wasting and muscular dystrophy.

Philadelphia has reached a milestone in its efforts to be recognized as a healthcare and life sciences hub with the start of its first health IT accelerator.

DreamIt Health’s inaugural class includes 10 startups. The four-month program co-sponsored by Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine includes members seeking to develop tools for healthcare providers to speed up diagnoses and improve outcomes.

Maryland has invested $500,000 in Cytomedix Inc., a regenerative medicine company in Gaithersburg.

The investment was made through the state's Maryland Venture Fund and InvestMaryland program. The state said the money is part of a $27.5 million fundraising round by Cytomedix (OTC: CMXI) that will result in the company adding 13 new employees to its current staff of 55.

Tom Sadowski, President and CEO, of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore has been appointed to UMBC’s Public Policy External Advisory Board. Created in 2003, the External Advisory Board provides advice and guidance to UMBC’s Department of Public Policy and the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR). An important part of their mission is to bring the University’s public policy expertise to bear on the concerns of the communities they serve.

Gaithersburg-based MedImmune, which is gaining hundreds of jobs in a consolidation by parent company AstraZeneca PLC, has completed its acquisition of AlphaCore Pharma LLC for an undisclosed sum.

The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based biotechnology company is developing a drug for high cholesterol. Cardiovascular and metabolic disease is one of MedImmune's core research areas.

GlaxoSmithKline is trying to expand the market for its Benlysta drug beyond lupus by launching a major study of the medicine as a treatment for a serious blood vessel disorder.

GSK acquired full control of Benlysta when it bought Human Genome Sciences for $3 billion last year. Current sales of the drug are modest, at 70 million pounds ($106 million) in 2012, but GSK hopes it will become a major seller.

President Obama unveils a bold new research initiative designed to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain, and discusses the importance of investing in American innovation to create jobs and strengthen our economy. April 2, 2013.

Since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (H.R. 3606) last year, the financial and medical press has been buzzing about the potential for crowdfunding to revolutionize fundraising for early-stage biotech companies. Even more recently, a portal that is exclusively dedicated to crowdfunding biotech and healthcare start-ups launched at medstartr.com. Although there may be reason for biotech entrepreneurs to be excited about crowdfunding, there are significant limitations and risks to this approach as well.

BioMed Realty Adds 1.6 Million Square Foot Portfolio & Expands University / Research Institution Segment to 18% of Annualized Base Rents

BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, a subsidiary of Wexford Equities, LLC, furthering BioMed Realty’s position as the leading provider of real estate to the life science industry. Wexford Science & Technology is a private real estate investment and development company that owns and develops institutional quality life science real estate for academic and medical research organizations, and that boasts well-regarded skills for urban development and redevelopment of life science real estate. The aggregate consideration for Wexford Science & Technology is approximately $640 million, excluding transaction costs and subject to adjustment based on working capital levels and construction and development costs incurred prior to closing. Wexford Science & Technology will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of BioMed Realty.

And then there were nine.

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development has named three finalists in three separate categories of the final round of the InvestMaryland Challenge. The winning companies, to be announced April 15, will receive $100,000 in top prizes and $125,000 in cash and in-kind awards as part of the Maryland Venture Fund’s first business competition.

InvestMaryland is a state venture capital initiative managed by DBED and the state-run Maryland Venture Fund. The initiative raised $84 million through a tax credit auction in 2012 to invest in startup companies.

Monday, April 15th 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. at MICA's Brown Center

After months of submitting business plans, scoring applications, developing special awards and partnering with us, it’s time to celebrate entrepreneurship! Please join us April 15th at Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center as we announce the top three $100K winners. 

Congratulations to Elaine Amir! Elaine, executive director of the Montgomery County Campus of Johns Hopkins University, was named to The Daily Record’s 2013 list of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.

The announcement brought kudos from JHU interim provost Jonathan Bagger.

The following eight companies have joined our campus community within the past few months. Welcome! We look forward to hearing more about your work.

“Transformation” is the best description of what is happening in health care right now. We are seeing historic changes in how health care is administered in the United States—with increased focus on quality of care versus just paying for a service. We are seeing changes in how people can enroll in health insurance—with the upcoming establishment of a new market place that will help more people get insured in this country than ever before.  And, we are seeing changes in how people understand and make decisions about their own health—with an increasing number of tools and services becoming available to help individuals access health information and manage their own personal health data. 

As the CEO of Pulse8, John Criswell works with health insurance exchanges and long-term care facilities on big data and analytics, which gives him a purview into the back-end integration required for states and the federal government to setup HIXs. Yet, he’s optimistic that the gvoernment will meet the October 1, 2013 deadline.

Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan spoke with Criswell about the complexity of standing up HIXs, how the exchanges might fare come October, and the overarching opportunities that both HIX and health information exchanges will create as they amass mammoth data sets. 

No action is good action. At least for online investment platform the Funders Club that today received a ‘no-action letter’ from the SEC stating that it will not recommend enforcement action.

The letter is a green light for the FundersClub and validation that its investment model is legal. The news is significant for the venture capital and finance industries, as well as startups looking for more flexible methods of fundraising.

The Congressional hearings debating the regulatory framework for mobile health devices and apps made me think about how we view mobile health apps and the criteria we use to determine what makes some better than others.

And as we all think in terms of the NCAA college basketball tournament around this time, I thought we would do a mini tournament using mobile health apps.

As we come to the close of Q1 of 2013, LSN has compiled some insight into three of the hottest subsectors being targeted by investors in the medical technology space. New technologies are surfacing that are changing treatment philosophies, and more importantly, medtech is attracting a whole new class of investors such as corporate venture from the consumer electronics, digital media, and telecom space. Here are the three trend areas that are changing the world from the medtech investor perspective:

The Maryland Venture Fund has awarded $300,000 to Adlyfe, a Rockville diagnostic test developer, as part of the state’s InvestMaryland program.

Adlyfe, which is developing an early detection test for Alzheimer’s disease, is also receiving a $200,000 grant from the Maryland Biotechnology Center.

This the title [paraphrased] of a keynote given last week by Jonathon Bush, the CEO of AthenaHealth, at the Xconomy Mobile Madness conference in Cambridge, Ma. What follows are my notes from the speech. The ideas are Jonathon’s. I really like what he’s saying and mostly agree, and he puts it very well.

AthenaHealth’s base business is medical practice billing in the cloud. This is an example of technology-enabled transformation of the health care business system, which we believe will be a big opportunity for entrepreneurs going forward. Founded in 1997, AthenaHealth is now a successful public company (ATHN).*

A week after the Congressional hearings discussed how the US Food and Drug Administration’s impending regulatory guidelines (expected by October) will impact mobile health apps, aspiring and current digital health entrepreneurs may be rethinking their path. In a report dubbed “FDA 101,” health startup accelerator Rock Health has compiled a handy report to help digital health entrepreneurs assess whether their mobile health apps would be classified as medical devices by the FDA and require 510(k) clearance.

Some of the pressure to clear the waters has come from technology developments that have simply outpaced the regulatory environment. Another is that provisions of health care reform call for making greater use ofremote monitoring, to reduce healthcare costs. Providers are pretty keen to reduce costs where they can as well. Remote monitoring would be particularly helpful when it comes to patients with chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure or diabetes or both, so they can have shorter hospital stays and care managers can be alerted for any changes in their vital signs.

President Barack Obama's top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010 healthcare restructuring due to take effect next year.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said definitive data on costs will not be available until later this year when private health plans become authorized to sell federally subsidized coverage on new state-based online marketplaces, known as exchanges.

Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., a global specialty pharmaceutical company, is generating fresh ideas from Michigan State University students at its Lansing location to improve operations.

Emergent BioSolutions, the Roscommon-based Lear Corp., the Saginaw-based Mistequay Group, Ltd. and approximately five other companies hosted more than 20 undergraduate and graduate business and engineering students on various projects. The initiative is the brainchild of Bill Demmer, the CEO of the Lansing-based Demmer Corp., who donated $5 million to the university to create the Marnie Demmer Center for Business Transformation in late 2011, MLive.com reports.

Sure, New Enterprise Associates is much, much bigger than most venture capital firms. And not all of their deals fall neatly into what we think of as traditional Series A-B-C venture.

NEA invests in private hospital systems in China. It does the occasional PIPE deal. It does big-ticket "growth" fundings that look a whole hell of a lot like private equity.

But NEA is definitely not a private equity firm, as it is here described in The Wall Street Journal.

Tech entrepreneurs will soon find a new home at Innovation Crossroads, the Eastern Shore’s first, full-service business incubator.

Gov. Martin O’Malley and the department of public works recently approved $1.2 million in funding from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development for construction of the incubator, the Dorchester County Council announced on Tuesday.

Innovation Crossroads is the planned anchor tenant of the newly constructed Cambridge-based Regional Technology Park.