Competition held during 2018 BioHealth Capital Region Forum

Wilson Sonsini's Charlie Andres and BHI’s Rich Bendis present the team from Galen Robotics
 their award for winning the 2018 Crab Trap competition

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, April 26, 2018 – Galen Robotics, a Johns Hopkins University spinout, was chosen from five finalists as the company with the most commercial potential by judges at the 3^rd Annual Crab Trap Competition. This year’s judges included industry leaders Amgen’s Bethany Mancilla, AstraZeneca’s Shaun Grady, Blu Venture’s Dr. Paul Silber, J.P. Morgan’s John T. Rubin, New Enterprise Associates’ Sara Nayeem, Roche’s Robert Silverman, and Sands Capital Ventures’ Stephen Zachary. They were impressed with a presentation by Lead Hardware Engineer, Yunus Sevimli, on Galen Robotics’ low-cost, compact, and intuitive to use novel microsurgical robotic platform designed to assist surgeons with minimally-invasive applications in otolaryngology, neurosurgery and similar critical fields. Galen Robotics is the third Johns Hopkins University spinout to win this competition following  LifeSprout (2017) and Sonavex (2016).

Strong presentations also were made by the other finalists--AlgometRx, Cellth Systems, Renalert, and Reveragen Biopharma—whose technologies originated at Children’s National Medical Center, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University.

Are you involved in the fight against drug resistant bacteria?  Between June 1 and June 8^th, organizations seeking funding to advance antimicrobial technologies (diagnostics, therapeutics or devices) will have the opportunity to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) to CARB-X.  CARB-X is dedicated to accelerating global antibacterial innovation through targeted funding of focused projects. Only technologies specifically focused on the Pathogens outlined in the CARB-X 2018 Funding Round 2 Scope will be considered.  Now is the time to beginning preparing your EOI.  More information is available on the CARB-X website: http://www.carb-x.org/application

Is your employee compensation package competitive? 

Help us help you.  Complete the 2018 BHCR Industry Compensation Survey by June 1, 2018 to receive an anonymized summary of salaries and benefits specific to positions in biohealth and to this region.  A pdf version of the survey is available here or you can use the online version of the survey to complete your information.  All company specific information will be kept confidential.  This survey is a joint project among BioHealth Innovation, WorkSource Montgomery, and UMBC-Shady Grove’s Industrial Organizational Pyschology Program.  If you or your Human Resources colleagues have any questions about the survey, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

MaxCyte, the global cell-based medicines and life sciences company, announced today that it has appointed Claudio Dansky Ullmann, MD, a 25+-year expert in clinical oncology and pharmaceutical research, as its Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In his new role, Dr. Dansky Ullmann is responsible for overseeing clinical development of MaxCyte’s CARMA™ drug development program as the company’s first candidate, MCY-M11, is expected to enter the clinic this year.

Corvidia Therapeutics Inc., a leading clinical stage biotechnology company, today announced the close of a $60 million USD Series B funding round. The financing will accelerate growth of Corvidia’s ongoing clinical programs, expand scientific and market access capabilities and explore new treatment areas.

Patients dealing with hypotension, or dangerously low blood pressure, can now be treated with a drug initially developed by George Washington University researcher Lakhmir Chawla from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the GW Medical Faculty Associates.

Towson University celebrated the start of construction on the new science complex with a groundbreaking ceremony on the top floor of the Glen Garage April 17.

Construction for the new science complex began in fall 2017, but the ceremony marked the University officially breaking ground on the project.

The annual BioHealth forum brought together about 1,100 biotech industry stakeholders from across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.

George Mason University President Angel Cabrera said more restrictive immigration policies could threaten the future of regional and national biotechnology industries.

“It is critical for universities to act both as producers of [science, technology, engineering and math] talent and as magnets for top STEM faculty and researchers from around the world. That is our biggest role in the ecosystem,” Cabrera said. “When we mess with immigration policy, our whole system of science and innovation is at stake.

Prince William County today congratulated three science start-ups – ISOThrive, LLC, Virongy, LLC and Ceres Nanosciences, Inc., – on recent business successes leading from the Prince William Science Accelerator.

The Emmes Corporation today announced the creation of an internship program in which the company will offer one fellow from Egypt's Children Cancer Hospital an internship to gain training and experience in clinical research. Under the new program, one fellow will be selected each year to travel to Emmes' headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, to work with its clinical research experts. The duration of each internship will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Q Therapeutics, Inc., a developer of clinical-stage cell therapies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, and REPROCELL Inc., Japan’s first induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) company, announced the formation of MAGiQ Therapeutics, Inc., a Japanese joint venture company. MAGiQ will develop iPSC-derived, glial-restricted progenitor cells (GRPs), in collaboration with Q Therapeutics and REPROCELL, to treat demyelinating and degenerative diseases of the CNS.

New York investment firm Deerfield Management is looking to bring more drugs, medical devices and health care products to market by partnering with academic institutions like Johns Hopkins University.

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the U.S. regulatory approval of PartoSureTM , which is a novel test for assessing the risk of spontaneous preterm birth in patients with symptoms of preterm labor. The pre-market approval of PartoSure by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follows successful uptake of the rapid, accurate test in more than 35 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. U.S. commercialization of the PartoSure test is expected to begin in 2018.

He is a walking Rolodex of some of the nation’s most high-powered business leaders. And he’s the reason many startups feel they’ve gotten a leg up in an otherwise crushing entrepreneurial race.

Chinese investors are pumping money into US drug startups as Beijing seeks to become a global leader in new medicines, adding to a flood of cash flowing to groundbreaking health firms.

More than a dozen biotech companies or researchers from the Maryland biotech cluster, which some have also dubbed ‘Vaccine Alley’, were among the most recognized finalists at this year’s Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards in Washington, DC at the World Vaccine Conference.  In fact, 15 out of the 54 finalists, or 27%. were from right here in Maryland.  This year’s conference was held in Washington, DC so could this have been a case of home court advantage?  Probably not. More than likely it’s because this region holds 20% of the top influencers worldwide in vaccine development.

We hear a lot these days about the so-called “rise of the rest”—the ascent of second-tier American cities such as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Detroit, and Nashville as challengers to the established tech capitals of the Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Seattle. But the reality is that the rise of the rest is happening mainly in cities outside of the United States.

On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 TEDCO Incubation Challenge finalist FounderTrac had their first Demo Day at Host Sponsor Loews Annapolis Hotel. After a 12 week, rigorous program 10 FounderTrac finalists pitched to a standing room only atrium of over 200 attendees. Over 50 angel investors and venture capitalists were in attendance creating an energy at the event that truly represents the essence of entrepreneurship. Tami Howie, CEO of the Maryland Technology Council says, “We had a huge number of high quality investors attend our showcase to see the amazing growth of our companies over the last 12 weeks of our FounderTrac program.”

Venture capital funds based in China poured US$1.4 billion into private US biotechnology firms in the three months ending March 31, accounting for about 40 per cent of the US$3.7 billion that the companies raised in the period overall, according to data provider PitchBook. 

The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), a proud member of Manufacturing USA® is pleased to welcome Genentech, Celgene, Merck, MilliporeSigma and EMD Serono (the U.S. businesses of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), among others, to its growing membership base.

The first quarter of 2018 saw a decline in investments, given that global deal activity decreased by 4 percent. Despite the fewer deals, global investment reached $46.5 billion, invested across 2,884 deals. The data was revealed as part of a larger report titled Money Tree, put together by CB Insights and PricewaterhouseCoopers, with focus on the latest trends in venture capital funding globally.

Don't let your colleagues miss out -- Forward this message to other senior leadership in the Region to invite them to attend the 2018 BioHealth Capital Region Forum. Register with the password: bhcrforum18

The Planning Committee has recently confirmed the participation of Secretary of Health & Human Services, Alex M. Azar II as a keynote speaker. His presentation is an exciting addition to an already robust lineup of speakers.

Check out the BioHealth Capital Region Forum website for regular updates on confirmed speakers and Forum agenda. Download our event application to interact with other attendees and post to the social wall - search for BHCR Forum 2018 in the AppStore or Google Play Store.

The disease, caused by a bacteria producing toxic substances which lead to internal bleeding, swelling and tissue death, is listed as the main biological terror threat to Brits.

Y Combinator has broadened its investment focus beyond the seed funding it gives to startups in its accelerator batches, and has become one of the most active investors in the country in subsequent stages.

GlaxoSmithKline divested its portfolio of rare disease gene therapies to Orchard Therapeutics through a strategic agreement, the company announced April 12.

The Johns Hopkins University and Lockheed Martin today announced a partnership aimed at enhancing opportunities for Baltimore City public school students pursuing academic and career fields in science, technology, engineering, and math. The collaboration is designed to close the STEM gap that exists primarily in Pre-K through 12th grade.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced the successful completion of the Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) for market authorization of BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) in five Concerned Member States (CMS) within the European Union (EU), including Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the U.K., and France (where it will be marketed as BaciThrax™). Emergent filed the mutual recognition application based on the existing Marketing Authorization of BioThrax in Germany granted by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. Following the positive MRP outcome, national licenses are due to be issued shortly by the five CMS countries.

This year marks the 70th Anniversary of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). NHLBI began as the National Heart Institute on June 16, 1948, when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Heart Act. In 1969, the Institute expanded its mission (and name) to cover research on lung diseases, and in 1976, the Institute grew further to include blood disorders. 

To commemorate the Institute's 70th anniversary and showcase important investments in scientific research, NHLBI is featuring lectures throughout the year from prominent thought leaders representing areas of high scientific priority in heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders.

D.C.-area tech companies who pulled in sizable investments contributed to a big venture capital fundraising quarter for the D.C. area to start 2018.

Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the research and development of novel therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases, today announced that it has closed an oversubscribed £29 million ($41 million USD) Series B round co-led by Versant Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund. The syndicate also included new investor Forbion, founding investor Epidarex Capital and existing investor IP Group. 

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced the expansion of Alexandria LaunchLabs®—its premier, full-service life science startup platform—into the thriving East Cambridge life science ecosystem. Alexandria LaunchLabs will open in the fall of 2018 in One Kendall Square, one of the most sought-after locations for life science companies in the United States. Building upon the success of Alexandria LaunchLabs' initial flagship site, which opened at the Alexandria Center® for Life Science – New York City in June 2017, the company will now bring its validated Alexandria LaunchLabs platform to Cambridge to meet the cluster's critical demand for life science startup space.  

The first annual Kendall Square Challenge, an app-driven fundraiser competition benefiting various nonprofits, will take place May 17 in Cambridge.

MIMETAS, leader in organ-on-a-chip products and tissue models, has secured 20.5 million USD in financing from an international syndicate from Asia and Europe. Mimetas will use the proceeds of this Series B financing round to expand its global commercial footprint with the OrganoPlate® organ-on-a-chip platform. In addition, the company will broaden its product portfolio, establish tissue production facilities, develop novel OrganoPlate® products and expand into clinical market segments, including personalized medicine. The company has operations in the Netherlands, USA and Japan.

The D.C. area saw its biggest first quarter in startup funding in at least 16 years, with companies raking in more than $473.3 million in venture capital with the biotech and software sectors leading the way, according to data provided by PitchBook.