The federal lab system is an enormous, $50 billion-plus enterprise of internal research and development (R&D) across the United States. As governments around the world, including China, pour billions of dollars into advanced technologies, it is imperative that we use our nation’s federal lab ecosystem as effectively as possible.

However, because federal labs have varying legal authorities, missions, and cultures, their records of local economic engagement and technology commercialization vary considerably. Universities, by contrast, have demonstrated a strong record of supporting regional innovation ecosystems through use of place (creating incubators, research parks, and adjacent innovation districts), talent (allowing university researchers to be involved with private-sector technology under approved and managed relationships), and innovation (using intermediary university foundations to take on business aspects of technology commercialization).

THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN ONE OF SIGNIFICANT GROWTH FOR FREDERICK'S LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR.

We compiled a list of some of the major local expansion and success stories below.

BIOFACTURA

In February 2021, BioFactura announced a contract option activation of over $13 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) as part of BioFactura’s prime contract valued at up to $67.4 million for the advanced development of a smallpox biodefense therapeutic. While smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization after an extensive vaccination campaign, the threat of bioterrorism and/or inadvertent release remains. This product has the potential to fulfill an unmet need in preparedness, augment current medical countermeasures and guard against potential resistance.

As the U.K. looks to boost the economy after a major COVID hit—and the looming spotlight of Brexit—the government is creating a new £1 billion public-private partnership in life sciences.

British Patient Capital, the commercial arm of the U.K. government’s British Business Bank, is kickstarting the program, funneling £200 million to “specialist funds” designed to “unlock the potential of innovative U.K. life sciences companies so that they can grow their operations and create high-skilled jobs in the U.K.,” according to the government.

Image: Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when Mayor of London last decade, created new life sciences hubs and investment plans. (UK Pool via AP via Newscred)

These are the 50 winners of the Washington Business Journal and DC Inno Fire Awards of 2021.

Image: We're recognizing 50 D.C.-area companies, people and organizations on fire. CAT FRANCIS, AMERICAN INNO

Rockville, Md. —  Montgomery County, Maryland, home of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and more than 480 life sciences companies, continues its momentum as a magnet for new life sciences development with a major surge in leasing and investment. With rising demand and just 5.2% availability for the county’s existing lab space, an additional 1.6 million square feet (SF) of lab space is in development—joining the current 10.6 million SF of total lab inventory already in Montgomery County. 

Eight hospitals and health systems have opened or announced plans to establish new centers focused on healthcare innovation this year. 

Editor's note: The innovation center launches are listed in the order they were reported. 

1. Cleveland Clinic in January said it plans to launch a new infectious disease research center through the new $500 million Cleveland Innovation District backed by the state of Ohio and JobsOhio. The health system in March also partnered with IBM to create a healthcare artificial intelligence discovery center. 

2. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's joint biological innovation center secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., in January. 

George Mason University, the largest public research university in Virginia, has a strong tradition of conducting research of consequence, from our pioneering work in cybersecurity to developing new ways of testing for COVID-19.

Since earning our R1 designation for “very high research” from Carnegie in 2016 and joining the elite group of the 131 best U.S. research institutions, our research enterprise has grown rapidly, reaching more than $200 million in funding in 2020, an all-time high for the university.

The formula for launching a machine learning company in health care looks something like this: Build a model, test it on historical patient data in a computer lab, and then start selling it to hospitals nationwide.

Suchi Saria, director of the machine learning and health care lab at Johns Hopkins University, is taking a different approach. Her company, Bayesian Health, is coming out of stealth mode on Monday by publishing a prospective study on how one of its lead products — an early warning system for sepsis — impacted the care of current patients in real hospitals.

Image: Suchi Saria, the chief executive officer of Bayesian Health. COURTESY SUCHI SARIA

Are you a biohealth start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your feedback session with BHI EIRs on one of the following dates. Pre-registration is required; Sign up here tinyurl.com/EIRfeedback

For questions/more information, contact BHI.

Quantum computing could change the world. It could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionise communications and artificial intelligence. Companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google are racing to build reliable quantum computers. China has invested billions.

Recently, Google claimed that it had achieved quantum supremacy – the first time a quantum computer has outperformed a traditional one. But what is quantum computing? And how does it work?

What is quantum computing? Let’s start with the basics.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. and SUZHOU BIOBAY, China, July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Sirnaomics Ltd., a leading biopharmaceutical company in discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, announced today that it has sealed $105 million in a Series E financing.  This round of funding was led by Rotating Boulder Fund, an investor that has been supporting the company since its Series B round, with participation from existing investors and a well-recognized syndicate of new investors.

Development veteran Tom Sadowski has been appointed to take over Maryland's quasi-public economic development agency this summer.

Sadowski will take over the executive director role from Robert Brennan, who is retiring at the end of July. Sadowski is currently vice chancellor for economic development at the University System of Maryland, a post he has held for five years. Prior to that, he led the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, a nonprofit business group downtown, for eight years.

Image: Tom Sadowski was just selected in a national search to head the Maryland Economic Development Corp. following the retirement of Robert Brennan. JASON WILLIAMS

If a virtual world has ever left you feeling nauseous or disorientated, you're familiar with cybersickness, and you're hardly alone. The intensity of virtual reality (VR)--whether that's standing on the edge of a waterfall in Yosemite or engaging in tank combat with your friends--creates a stomach-churning challenge for 30-80% of users.

Image: A test subject experiences a potentially stomach-churning virtual reality fly- through of a space station while her brain activity is monitored. CREDIT Maryland Blended Reality Center

Expanded offerings will help regulated life science companies strengthen the supply chain for safe, quality medicines, and medical devices that are critical to patients

Rockville, MD, July 7, 2021 – United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an independent, scientific nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Pharmatech Associates, Inc. By adding Pharmatech Associates expertise, USP further advances its more than 200-year mission to help ensure access to quality medicines by extending services that assist manufacturers to meet global quality standards across the drug and product lifecycle.

The global medicine supply chain is a complex marketplace of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors from many countries.  Making it more resilient requires a multi-faceted approach. The acquisition of Pharmatech supports our commitment to expand our capabilities to strengthen the supply chain of quality medicines, builds on our longstanding work with regulators and manufacturers globally to solve some of the most critical and challenging problems in the industry, and helps ensure patients have access to the medicines that they need.  Pharmatech helps manufacturers satisfy global regulatory requirements to bring products to market, scale up manufacturing, effectively manage quality control, and remediate quality problems in a rapidly changing environment. 

The BioHealth Capital Region Forum is free Virtual 2 Half-Day event for executive-level biotech leaders. The theme of the forum this year is "Big Data...Big Data...Converging" with panels on Big Data in Biotech, nfectious Diseases, Developing Talent, Regional Real Estate, IP Analysis and Protection, Funding, and a Fire Side Chat with Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIAID Director.

The 7th Annual BioHealth capital Region Forum is organized by event partners - Association of University Research Parks, AstraZeneca, BioHealth Innovation, BRAINBox Solutions, Inc, Children’s National Hospital, Emergent BioSolutions, George Mason University, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC, Maryland Department of Commerce, and Virginia Bio. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. Please join us for our 7th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow. We hope you’re able to join us!

Registration is now open for the BioHealth Capital Region 6^th Annual Crab Trap Competition. The Crab Trap this year will be held virtually in affiliation with the 7^th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum with attendees receiving a link to watch live on September, 29^th, 2021. Judges Sally Allain, Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Andrea Alms, Co-Fund Manager, BioHealth Capital Fund, Troy LeMaile-Stovall, Chief Executive Officer, TEDCO, Conley Jones, Senior Associate, Alexandria Venture Investments, and John Newby, Chief Executive Officer, Virginia Biotechnology Association, join Moderator, Rich Bendis, President and CEO of BHI, to choose one biohealth startup with the most commercial potential.

Companies interested in applying, please visit https://bit.ly/crabtrap2021 today.

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, July 6, 2020 – The Board of Directors of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) unanimously approved the appointment of Jeff Boyle as a new board member. Jeff Boyle is the President of Ellume USA LLC and leads the team establishing the manufacturing operation and commercial headquarters in Maryland; and is responsible for all aspects of the North American business operation. Jeff has previously held leadership positions at CSL, Cellestis, and most recently with QIAGEN as a Global Franchise Head.

We are excited to announce a partnership between CEID and CONNECTED DMV. We will be cooperating with CONNECTED DMV in their Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Initiative and serve as a key partner in the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center and AHEAD100 initiative.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continued to take action in the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

Today, the FDA authorized the use, under the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, of an additional batch of vaccine drug substance manufactured at the Emergent facility. To date a total of four batches of Janssen drug substance that were manufactured at the Emergent facility have been authorized. The FDA conducted a thorough review of facility records and the results of quality testing performed by the manufacturer. Based on this review and considering the current COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA has concluded that these batches are suitable for use. While the FDA is not yet ready to include the Emergent BioSolutions plant in the Janssen EUA as an authorized manufacturing facility, the agency continues to work through issues there with Janssen and Emergent BioSolutions management.

In Greater Washington, we spotlight these VC firms raising new funds or adding dollars to their existing ones.

Arriving in Washington in the midst of a pandemic, the Biden administration has been laser-focused on funding life sciences, announcing support for the onshoring of crucial manufacturing and proposing vast increases in National Institutes of Health funding and the creation of ARPA-H, a new multibillion-dollar applied research center for the health sciences. 

Image: Courtesy of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Congress has passed a series of bills that may send billions of dollars of funding to life sciences clusters across the country.

By the end of this week, the world should cross two small but significant milestones on the road to overcoming COVID-19—getting at least 5% of the global population fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, with at least 10% receiving one dose of vaccines that require two.

According to Our World in Data, a collaboration of the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development at the University of Oxford and the nonprofit Global Change Data Lab, 376,173,766 people were fully vaccinated as of May 20 (4.8% of global population), while 739,208,299 people had received one dose (9.5%).

The companion diagnostics market is on track to reach $6.8 billion by 2025 (from $3.7 billion in 2020), according to a Markets and Markets report , driven by the growing need for targeted therapy, the rising importance of personalized medicine, the increasing global incidence of cancer, and a raging demand for next-generation sequencing (NGS). So it's not surprising to see more and more alliances between pharmaceutical companies and diagnostics companies.

LEIDEN, The Netherlands, July 06, 2021 / B3C newswire / -- MIMETAS, a leader in organ-on-chip-based disease models and technology, and Roche, a world-leading pharmaceutical company, announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to develop human disease models to characterize novel compounds in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and hepatitis B virus infections (HBV). Under the terms of the agreement, MIMETAS is eligible to receive an upfront payment and milestone payments from Roche.

MIMETAS will be responsible for developing tissue-based disease models and assays in the OrganoPlate, its proprietary organ-on-chip platform that increases predictability of biomarkers and reduces animal use in scientific testing. Roche will gain access to technology, disease models, and scientific results. Roche will also receive an option to exclusively license specific disease models and assays for use in drug discovery.

Howard Carolan, Co-Founder and CEO  of CoapTech, Inc., and Neil Davis, Program Director of the Biomedical Entrepreneurship Graduate Certificate program at the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), joins Rich Bendis to discuss Startups, Tech Transfer, and the Funding.

Listen now on Google https://bit.ly/36fStWr, Apple https://apple.co/2UpA0UO, Spotify https://spoti.fi/36igrjG, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3hpCRpT.

Mr. Davis is currently Program Director of the Biomedical Entrepreneurship graduate certificate program at the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB).  This unique 12 credit graduate certificate provides the student with an opportunity to learn the process of creating valuable intellectual property (IP) and moving it into commercial application.  This process begins with the creation of IP, continues to its licensing and the formation of a venture through the growth of the venture, and culminates with the monetization of that venture.

Thanks to unprecedented development speed and mostly strong safety and efficacy data, vaccines have dominated the response to COVID-19. But ending the pandemic will also require development of numerous therapeutics.

Seven COVID-19 drugs have shown promise recently. Positive signs include the accumulation of encouraging data, participation in the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) trials, and/or progress toward regulatory authorizations.

• This  document  has been  redacted by  Sam Collaudin, Kinexum Business Strategy  Consultant, independently  from any  pharmaceutical and  biotech companies 
• It synthesizes  selected  data presented  during  the  ATTD 2021  conference 
• Grey  rectangles  are  personal  comments and  opinions,  underlined  words are clickable  links  to other  slides  or  external  references 
• If  you  have comments, please  contact me by  email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) 
• Disclosure: Business  strategy consultant  at Modular  Medical,  CEO  of Abvance Kinexum ,  consultant  for Therapeutics, chairman  of  a non  for profit French health  care  insurance company  (Groupe Operating  Since  2003 Uitsem)

This week, a pair of Frederick companies raised millions in new investment, offering evidence of the Maryland city’s growing role as one of the region’s tech hubs. Check out the specifics on those companies and more:

Image: Frederick, Maryland. (Courtesy photo)

Johns Hopkins University's board of trustees has voted unanimously to add a new five-year term to the presidential tenure of Ron Daniels, an extension through June 2029 that "reflects the board's full and unwavering confidence in the trajectory of our institution and its remarkable people—our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends—supported and sustained by President Daniels' able leadership," Lou Forster, the board's chair, wrote in a message to the Hopkins community today.

Image: Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels speaks at the 10,000 Small Businesses graduation ceremony in Baltimore in November 2019. CREDIT:WILL KIRK / JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

The firm helps gene therapy and vaccine companies develop and manufacture products for rare diseases.

Image: Vigene Biosciences, led by CEO Zairen Sun, right, and Chief Commercial Officer Jeffrey Hung, has been acquired. EMAN MOHAMMED

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc. (“APT”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Evan Loh, M.D., CEO of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTK), Jonathan Leff, Partner at Deerfield Management, and Jana Jensen, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer at Deerfield Discovery and Development, to the company’s Board of Directors.

Go pakh your cahr, Boston. Grab some granola, California. It’s D.C.’s moment in life sciences. 

For years, the Washington metropolitan area has been one of the nation’s fastest-growing and largest life sciences markets. Growth during the pandemic and the market’s singular location are launching it into a whole other stratosphere. 

Image: ST. JOHN PROPERTIES’ MATT HOLBROOK AT RIVERSIDE TECH PARK IN FREDERICK. PHOTO: BY ST. JOHN PROPERTIES 

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). The many crowd funding platforms on the Internet, led still by Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, were expected by many to put regular people in charge of funding new opportunities, and kill the need for angel groups.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Since 2005, the Small Business Capital Investment Incentive has generated early-stage funding for more than 200 Arizona businesses, including my company, Qwick. I moved from California to Arizona to launch Qwick, an on-demand staffing platform for the service industry, because I know that new companies need these early investments to succeed.

As Arizona lawmakers finalize the fiscal 2022 budget, they can support new businesses by extending this incentive that’s commonly known as the angel investor tax credit. The program has made a $1.38 billion economic impact over the past six years alone.

Of the nearly 3 billion base pairs in the human genome, about 99% are the same in every human being — however, it is the sequence of these DNA pairs that makes each of us who we are genetically.

It’s like that with entrepreneurial DNA — every state has it.

Our country was built by entrepreneurs. It’s just that from state to state, our DNA is “sequenced” differently.

In Oklahoma, our entrepreneurial DNA isn’t channeled from one dominant industry — or from a particular type of entrepreneur. Our state heroes of innovation have impacted industries across the board — from human flight to rock and roll. From changing the way that people drive to changing the way the way people exercise. From making it easier to shop to making it easier to park. From digging ditches to accessing the Internet.