Deployed military personnel frequently face numerous health and safety hazards as part of their daily activities in service to their nation. Among many dangers is the possibility of encountering hemorrhagic fever viruses (HFVs), a group of highly infectious pathogens such as the Ebola virus. Many of these diseases do not currently have effective therapeutics and can be prevalent in areas where service members are deployed, putting them at risk of exposure.

George Mason University infectious disease researcher Aarthi Narayanan has partnered with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and Cyclica, a biotechnology company based in Canada, to identify potential broad-spectrum therapeutics for illnesses triggered by HFVs and similar pathogens.

Biopharmaceutical company Kite Pharma will expand its footprint in Frederick County with a new warehouse that will bring 100 new jobs to the area, the company announced Tuesday.

Kite, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), will build an approximately 70,000-square-foot raw materials warehouse to support its global cell therapy manufacturing network. The company's CAR T-cell therapy uses a person's own immune system to recognize, attack and destroy certain types of cancer with a one-time, individualized treatment.

Today, College Park, Maryland quantum leader IonQ announced its first-ever acquisition.

The DMV company acquired the operating assets of Entangled Networks, a Toronto, Canada-based startup founded in 2021. Entangled Networks specialized in enabling computing for multiple quantum processors, including those that are distributed. Through the deal, the Entangled team will become the staff of IonQ Canada, the quantum pioneer’s first outpost in the country.

Image: IonQ's Kai Hudek in the lab. (Courtesy photo)

To kick off the new year, The Galien Foundation is delighted to share with you highlights from the 2022 Prix Galien Awards Ceremony and recognize the incredible achievements of the Medalists  of the Prix Galien Golden Jubilee and the Prix Galien USA.

Kite , a global biopharmaceutical company, is adding 100 new jobs and expanding its cell therapy manufacturing operations in Frederick County.

A Gilead company, Kite is planning to construct a 70,000 square-foot warehouse adjacent to its current facility in the Urbana Corporate Center, which will help expand its global manufacturing network. The company originally announced its entry into Maryland back in 2019 , helping form the largest dedicated in-house cell therapy manufacturing network in the world. The company expects to employ more than 500 full-time staff between its two facilities by the end of 2026.

Linshom Medical raising $3M series A to launch respiratory monitor

Ellicott City startup Linshom Medical is looking to raise a $3 million round as it works to develop a medical device that catches the warning signs of a respiratory crisis.

CEO Richard Hughen plans to use the series A raise, as well as a $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, to fund a study to prove the company’s respiratory monitor is effective at detecting breathing issues. The company previously raised $1.5 million in convertible notes. Linshom has raised $1 million of its $3 million series A goal so far, with support from the Maryland Momentum Fund, the Maryland Technology Development Corp. and other investors.

Once the studies are complete, the three-person company is planning to do a soft launch in a few hospital systems late this year.

· Global biopharmaceutical company focusing on metabolic and digestive diseases

· Proceeds to fund clinical and business development

ROCKVILLE, MD and SHENZHEN, CHINA,January 5, 2023— HighTide Therapeutics Inc. (“HighTide”), a globally integrated clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel multifunctional therapies for metabolic and digestive diseases, today announced the closing of a $107 million Series C/C+ financing led by the TCM Healthcare Fund of Guangdong, managed by China Development Bank Capital. Other investors included Yuexiu Fund and Yuthai Fund.

On September 30, 2022, the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 (the Act) was enacted, reauthorizing the SBIR and STTR programs until September 30, 2025. The Act makes several significant changes related to national security risks and foreign influence in the programs. The changes include agency implementation of due diligence procedures, new offeror disclosure and ongoing contractor reporting requirements, and new award eligibility requirements, with an offeror’s or contractor’s omissions or misstatements resulting in repayment of the entire award amount, among other changes to the programs.

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CinCor Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: CINC) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with AstraZeneca under which AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire CinCor.

Marc de Garidel, Chief Executive Officer at CinCor, said: "We are excited about the proposed acquisition of CinCor Pharma by AstraZeneca as we believe it offers the prospect of accelerating the development timeline and expanding the breadth of benefits patients with cardiorenal diseases might obtain from baxdrostat, if approved. CinCor is committed to ensuring a smooth transition of the development responsibilities to AstraZeneca once the acquisition is consummated. Thank you to all who have played, and will continue to play, essential roles in developing and evaluating baxdrostat as a potential novel treatment for cardiorenal diseases."

The transition will take place in late January.

Image: Stanley Erck is retiring as CEO of Gaithersburg vaccine maker Novavax. EMAN MOHAMMED

Today we announced an agreement to acquire CinCor Pharma, Inc., a US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on developing novel treatments for resistant and uncontrolled hypertension.

The acquisition will strengthen our cardiorenal pipeline, where there is a high unmet medical need.

This acquisition is expected to close in first quarter of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Additional important information can be found here: https://know.az/3IvkzkQ

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Life sciences firm Qiagen said on Monday it has acquired DNA-biometrics firm Verogen in a $150-million cash deal, strengthening its forensics portfolio.

The deal builds on the companies' existing partnership from 2021, under which Qiagen has the rights to distribute some of Verogen's products such as its next-generation gene sequencing panels and genetic code analyzing technology GEDmatch.

Scientists and researchers have made remarkable breakthroughs in basic science to better understand the complex pathology of many diseases today. Some of that progress is through utilizing technology to uncover new insights, and some of the progress is through the incalculable capacity of the human mind to analyze problems and find solutions. With all that knowledge and all the effort put in, however, human biology and disease pathology continue to be surprising. Every day researchers continue to make profound discoveries in basic science that create new possibilities in fighting disease.

First awarded in 2016, the International Biomedical Research Alliance’s Innovation Award recognizes novel solutions in biology or medicine and acknowledges discoveries of unusual importance, application, or magnitude that make use of new or unusual methods, paradigms, or approaches to solve important problems in biology or medicine. Once again, this year, the Innovation Award was generously sponsored by BioHealth Innovation Inc. This award was presented to Sooraj Achar, an NIH-Oxford D.Phil. Scholar in the Class of 2020 who is mentored by Dr. Gregoire Altan-Bonnet at the National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH) and Prof. Mike Dustin at the University of Oxford.

Image: https://biomedalliance.org

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has signed an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity procurement contract with a maximum value up to $379.6 million to supply RSDL® (Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion Kit) for use by all branches of the U.S. military. Emergent's Canadian Subsidiary will serve as the sole subcontractor to deploy RSDL® to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) through a new contract award to the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC). The new contract has a base year, which began in December 2022, and four single year option renewals.

"Emergent has a 25-year history of developing and supplying medical countermeasures (MCM) for the U.S. and other governments around the world," said Paul Williams, senior vice president, government MCM at Emergent. "RSDL® has been a routine part of the U.S. warfighters armamentarium for 13 years. This new contract award demonstrates the unique capabilities of our core MCM business to continue to meet the needs and deliver on the requirements for chemical and biological preparedness of public and military forces, which is an important part of our mission to help protect and enhance life."

Maryland, with its six million plus residents, may not be the biggest state, but even before the creation of the United States, the colony’s location in the mid-Atlantic was key to its economic prosperity.

While the state’s central location on the Eastern seaboard is still vital for companies like Amazon and its massive Baltimore-area shipping enterprise, the proximity to another center, the federal capital, provides Maryland with its most important source of large employers.

Image: https://www.heraldmailmedia.com

Cast your mind back to 2020, if you can bear it. As the year progressed, so did the impact of covid-19. We were warned that wearing face coverings, disinfecting everything we touched, and keeping away from other people were some of the only ways we could protect ourselves from the potentially fatal disease.

Thankfully, a more effective form of protection was in the works. Scientists were developing all-new vaccines at rapid speed. The virus behind covid-19 was sequenced in January, and clinical trials of vaccines using messenger RNA started in March. By the end of the year, the US Food and Drug Administration issued emergency-use authorization for these vaccines, and vaccination efforts took off.

Image: STEPHANIE ARNETT/MITTR; ENVATO

SHANGHAI, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi Biologics ("WuXi Bio") (2269. HK), a leading global Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO), today announced a license agreement with GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) under which GSK will have exclusive licenses for up to four bi- & multi-specific TCE antibodies developed using WuXi Biologics' proprietary technology platforms.

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will be granted an exclusive global license for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of a pre-clinical bispecific antibody that crosslinks tumor cells and T cells by targeting a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) on tumor cells and CD3 expression on T cells and up to three additional pre-clinical TCE antibodies currently at an earlier discovery stage. WuXi Biologics will receive a $40 million upfront payment and up to $1.46 billion in additional payments for research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones across the four TCE antibodies. WuXi Biologics is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales.

Looking forward to the trends that will define the new year, and predictions for 2023, a group of leading life sciences industry analysts predicted a much more cautious approach to investment, a reflection of larger macroeconomic challenges, yet continued long-term investment in an asset class that continues to grow in importance.

“We’ve entered a really slow, kind of cautious period,” JLL Head of Americas Work Dynamics and Industry Research Amber Schiada said. “We’ve also seen valuations come back down to earth, too.”

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoImmuneTech, Inc. (NIT or "NeoImmuneTech"), a clinical-stage T cell-focused biopharmaceutical company, today announced an agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop NeoImmuneTech's main asset NT-I7 (efineptakin alfa) (rhIL-7-hyFc), for the treatment of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS).

ARS is an acute illness caused by irradiation of most of the body by a high dose of penetrating radiation in a short period of time. These kinds of exposures can cause profound suppression of hematopoiesis and T cell depletion, significantly increasing susceptibility to infections. Currently, there is no therapeutic option for accelerating recovery of the T cell compartment following radiation exposure. NT–I7, a novel long-acting human interleukin-7 (IL-7), is expected to quickly restore lymphocyte levels and reduce vulnerability to infectious disease after radiation exposure. In the clinical setting, NT–I7 has been shown to increase T cell counts significantly and persistently while being safe and well tolerated.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmes, a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization (CRO) dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, today announced that Matt Honan has joined the company as vice president and global head of corporate development.

In this newly created position, Honan will lead the company in identifying and executing acquisitions that complement Emmes' existing strong federal government client base, expand its biopharma portfolio, enhance its technology offerings, and broaden its global reach.

For the second year in a row, we offer readers a look at the 100 men and women who are shaping our businesses, governments, nonprofits, law firms and other key institutions.

Thomas Baden Jr.

The Power 100 List for 2022-23 focuses on the people who play an outsized role in the culture, lifestyle, civic conversation and economic fortunes of Maryland.

Image: https://thedailyrecord.com - Thomas Baden Jr.

On Friday December 16, Merck (NYSE: MRK) today announced the launch of their first biopharmaceutical cohort through the Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDSS), a collaboration between Merck, Microsoft for Startups, and the New Jersey Innovation Institute, a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) subsidiary. The 10-month startup accelerator program with direct investments from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, and McKesson Ventures will empower members and enable the generation of innovative digital technologies for drug discovery and development through hands-on mentorship, connection opportunities with industry leading partners, and training in an active entrepreneurial setting. The program includes workshops, mentorship, coaching, subsidized office space, and access to Microsoft's Founders Hub resources, including Azure Cloud computing credits.

Great minds, innovators, bold thinkers and visionaries come to Montgomery County, MD to create something revolutionary. There’s a reason why. We have everything you need to succeed – top talent, diverse thinkers, incredible incentives and funding, proximity to D.C., and much more.

Image: From Video

Maryland Department of Commerce 2022 Annual Report

When I walked out of my last final at the University of Maryland, College Park two decades ago, I remember saying to myself, "That was the last test I'll ever take".” Yet, I am now in my second and final year of the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Pharmacy’s Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics program offered at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG).

Johan Kördel can trace his decision to co-found Sound Bioventures to a conversation back in 2018. After spending the better part of a decade as senior partner at a venture capital fund, leading investments and serving on many companies’ boards of directors, Kördel felt an increasing need to do something different. He was telling a business associate about how he wanted more independence and direct influence on decisions and the funding processes. “I was having this conversation with my colleague,” Kördel recalls, “and they said, ‘Why don’t you start your own fund?’ And funny enough, I actually hadn’t thought about that before.”

Image: https://soundbioventures.com

Emmes is dedicating a center to enhance the company’s legacy and depth in cell and gene therapy research.

The company, a global, full-service clinical research organization (CRO) dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation, noted in a news release that the center will focus on supporting the clinical trials of our clients who are developing cell and gene therapies around the world and across multiple therapeutic areas, including ophthalmology and rare diseases.

The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) and its life science ecosystem have a rich and deep history of pioneering scientific innovation, research, development, and commercialization. The region’s history has been written by life science anchor companies, scientific research universities, government research organizations, rich startup culture, and serial entrepreneurs, all of whom have played critical roles in transforming the BHCR into one of the most innovative and productive biocluster in the world.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Sykesville, MD, and Fairfax, VA, December 21, 2020 – Noble Life Sciences (NLS), a preclinical contract research organization located in Sykesville, MD, has signed a Collaboration Agreement with George Mason University (Mason) to access the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID) BSL-3 facility located within their Biomedical Research Laboratory at Mason’s Science and Technology Campus in Manassas. The Agreement enables NLS to perform federal and non-federally funded BSL-3 animal model projects to support the development of new antiviral and antibacterial agents against infectious and resistant pathogens.

Image: https://noblelifesci.com

Linshom Medical CEO, Ric Hughen, joins Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss his career, their respiratory monitor, and growing a company in the BioHealth Capital Region.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3GkByoi,  Google https://bit.ly/3C4TUY9, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3Gk6Ewh, Amazon Podcasts https://amzn.to/3WphyXb, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3WOnWHB

Richard Hughen’s thirty years of medical device experience spans three Fortune 500 and three start-up companies with two successful exits to date. He is currently CEO of Linshom Medical, a start-up that is first to deliver continuous predictive respiratory monitoring (CPRM) to the patient bedside and home.

Since 2000, global investment in research and development (R&D) has tripled to $2.4 trillion.

R&D spend is also casting a wider global net. In 1960, the U.S. made up nearly 70% of global R&D spending, and by 2020 this had fallen to 30%. From job creation and public health to national security and industrial competitiveness, R&D plays a vital role in a country’s economic growth and innovation, impacting nearly every corner of society—either directly or indirectly.

Image: https://www.visualcapitalist.com

TUCSON, AZ and COLLEGE PARK, MD / ACCESSWIRE / December 15, 2022 / Research parks, innovation districts and related entities across the United States should prepare and strategize now to compete for federal funding from the recently enacted CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, according to a new white paper from AURP, the leading nonprofit organization representing research parks and innovation districts.

The white paper, prepared by Brian Darmody, AURP Chief Strategy Officer, showcases a dynamic range of ways organizations and institutions - such as research parks, innovation districts, businesses, universities, federal labs, states, regions and local communities - engaged in science and technology-based economic development can leverage the unprecedented amount of federal grant funding authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act.

Download the White Paper by Clicking Here

Novo Holdings and experienced venture capitalists on both sides of the Atlantic have come together to create a new fund focused on rare diseases. Led by VCs who spent years at Lundbeckfonden Ventures and NEA, Sound Bioventures will use its initial 110 million euros ($124 million) to back biotechs that are either in or on the cusp of the clinic.

Image: Novo Holdings framed its interest in Sound Bioventures as about more than just generating a return on investment. ((Pixabay))

The founders of Fermi Energy have an idea which, if it pans out, could revolutionize the auto industry.

That industry is already seeing the rise of electric vehicles, but electric vehicles are hampered by one thing: Their batteries require nickel and cobalt, two elements that must be imported. Fermi founders Feng Lin and Zhengrui Xu believe they can use other elements (they won’t say which ones for proprietary reasons) to achieve the same energy output, reduce the charging time – and cut costs by 20%.

Image: Here's the lab space under construction at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. Photo by Dwayne Yancey.