Our Senior Consultant and Cluster Lead Boaz Van Driel just returned from his fruitful visit with our collaborators BioHealth Innovation, Inc.

This trip was a vital step in laying our foundations for our expansion in the United States and we look forward to our bright, united future!

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LumaCyte, an advanced research and bioanalytics instrumentation company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, announces the third doubling of their manufacturing and laboratory space. This expansion reflects an exponential growth trajectory for the organization. “Customer demand is driving our need for additional space and resources. We are excited by the overwhelming interest in our Laser Force Cytology (LFC) instrument, Radiance®. Biopharma and CDMO organizations are looking to drive innovative analytical solutions into their R&D and biomanufacturing processes and we are honored to be part of this important transformation,” says Dr. Sean J. Hart, LumaCyte’s CEO and CSO. Radiance® offers a unique, label-free approach to single cell analysis giving researchers significant improvements in the quality and speed of their cell-based assays. Two key application spaces driving LumaCyte’s current customer demand are rapid viral infectivity measurements for vaccine R&D and production, and label-free biomarker phenotyping for cell therapy biomanufacturing.

 Burtonsville, MD – September 19, 2019 – Facility Logix, a life sciences consulting firm providing best-in-class customized facility solutions and novel approaches to facility design, real estate construction and project management to the biotech industry, celebrates 15 years of success and continued growth, capped off with the recent grand opening of the new 75,000-square-foot Discovery and Innovation Building in Jacksonville, Florida for a major academic medical center.

Image: https://flgx.com/3069-2/

The properties are rented by primarily high quality tenants and the cash flow is well supported by long term, triple net lease contracts.

These public and private research facilities are clustered in areas where medical and technological research spending is most concentrated including the greater Boston area, San Francisco, San Diego, NYC, Seattle and Maryland.

A strong group of entrepreneurs ready and willing to innovate, fund and lead new bioscience companies is essential to the creation and sustainability of top-tier biohealth clusters. 

It is often referenced that the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) lacks a deep enough pool of qualified executive talent that is needed to sustain a larger cluster with more early-stage biotech startups. In fact, Ken Mills, CEO of REGENXBIO shared his feelings towards this void in leadership talent in a recent BBJ article, stating, “People who have experienced some success in the industry need to stay here and be the foundation for investing in new opportunities in biotech.”

Image: https://biobuzz.io

On September 17, the College of Health and Human Services kicked-off “Mason: Health Starts Here,” a first-of-its-kind transdisciplinary student cohort study to understand and improve the health of university students. Research will include a longitudinal study of a broad sample of young adults, specifically first-year Mason students, to capture the diversity of their experiences in college and how they affect their physical and behavioral health.

Image: https://chhs.gmu.edu

Alexandria has been at the vanguard of Seattle's growing commercial life science ecosystem since entering the Seattle market in 1996 and is committed to developing a new, vibrant and connected campus to accelerate the discovery and delivery of novel innovations; create quality construction, life science and technology jobs; provide critical funds to address homelessness initiatives; activate the neighborhood; and help fulfill the company's mission to advance human health

One of the biggest dangers for trauma patients during the ambulance ride is undiagnosed, internal hemorrhagic bleeding. It’s currently undetectable with methods available on the ambulance ride. You can’t see it … but a robot can.

Dr. Axel Krieger – an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering who specializes in medical robotics and computer vision – says that estimates suggest one-third of trauma fatalities likely would have survived if they had access to hospital-level of care sooner. He aims to help make that level of care standard on the way to the hospital by equipping ambulances with a medical robot enhanced by machine learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKPc_ZbLtuk

After a generation spent shaping the growth and development of biopharma clusters, Alexandria Real Estate Equities executive chairman and founder Joel Marcus recently spoke publicly about what will most likely drive the upcoming generation of hubs for biopharma and other emerging life sciences.

“If we focus for a moment on the next life science frontier, it’s pretty clear that the sheer scale of unmet medical needs for patients suffering from diseases of the brain is quite staggering, the cost to society enormous,” Marcus told analysts on Alexandria’s quarterly conference call July 30, according to a transcript published by Seeking Alpha. He cited the growing cost of treating dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the nation’s opioid epidemic.

AstraZeneca has successfully been striking deals at an industry-leading rate over the past five years, with a concerted surge in both out-licensing and in-licensing work, according to a new report,  Pharma Licensing Trends, 2014–18.

Analysts Datamonitor Healthcare put AstraZeneca comfortably ahead of other pharmaceutical firms, recognising the company as the most active dealmaker between 2014 and 2018, during which time it also signed the sector’s largest single deal.

Image: https://www.astrazeneca.com

Another day, another start-up making headlines about its transformational technology that's set to disrupt a traditional sector, or its scientific breakthrough that will change the treatment standard for a horrible disease. "Sounds great!" you may be thinking. "Where do I invest?" Unfortunately, you can't.

Let's face it. Most of us aren't able to invest in venture capital funds. The realm of private equity that fuels the growth of fledgling companies is reserved for endowments, pension plans, and high-net-worth, accredited investors. Is it possible for ordinary investors to gain exposure to this high-risk, high-reward arena? Yes, but only indirectly. 

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The UK government said today that it has formed a strategic partnership with four pharmaceutical firms and a charity to provide £200 million ($247 million) to support sequencing the genomes of hundreds of thousands of participants in the UK Biobank.

The project aims to improve health through genetic research and to advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, and chronic kidney disease.

WASHINGTON, September 16, 2019 – Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been appointed to the FasterCures advisory board, executive director Tanisha Carino announced today.

Gottlieb has a unique vantage point into the biomedical research system, how breakthrough medical technologies are developed, and the promise new therapies can hold to cure disease and save lives, according to Carino.

As a member of the advisory board, Gottlieb will leverage decades of exp

Image: Scott Gottlieb - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Gottlieb

Data hubs set up across the UK from October this year will enable cutting-edge research for health discoveries and aim to give patients across the UK faster access to pioneering treatments.

Pioneering data hubs that enable cutting-edge research for health discoveries and aim to give patients across the UK faster access to pioneering new treatments will be rolled out next month.

Led by Health Data Research UK, these hubs aim to improve the lives of people with debilitating conditions, and will link up different types of health data and make it more easily accessible and user-friendly for research, while maintaining strict controls around data privacy and consent.

When Doug Ward joined Personal Genome Diagnostics in 2016 as the company’s first CEO, he brought a small team of scientists with global experience from international medical technology companies. But leading teams and transformations at big names like Bayer, General Electric, Roche, and Siemens didn’t just make him a competitive driver with the know-how to scale the business, it made him an executive hyper-focused on building the team and scaling a culture that will take a startup company from the Canton waterfront to global distribution.

Image: Doug Ward is the CEO of Personal Genome Diagnostics. (Courtesy photo)

BALTIMORE, Md. — The Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded nine small and mid-sized Maryland companies with ExportMD grants to help promote their products and services in the global marketplace. The ExportMD grant program helps businesses finance the costs of marketing internationally, including trade show fees and travel expenses. Applications are accepted on a monthly basis and the next application deadline is October 1, 2019. Eligibility requirements can be found on the Commerce website.

You and your company team will be competing against other biotech firms to win the coveted BioBowl Trophy and bragging rights!

...Until next year

Date: Thursday, October 10th, 2019
Time: 4:00 - 6:30 PM (TBC)
Location: Bowlmor – 15720 Shady Grove Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Invitation to follow.

Hosted by BioHealth Innovation and AstraZeneca

Most people consider mosquitoes to be a summertime pest – the unwelcome guest at the backyard barbecue. More concerning are the threats from disease-carrying mosquitoes, those that can potentially result in Dengue, West Nile, Yellow fever and Zika. And now media are reporting alarming cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in the United States that have already killed at least three people and infected others.

The new president first joined the Rockville hospital's leadership team in 2011.

Lockheed Martin recently signed a $3 million charitable commitment to the University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering. The three-year contribution will be used to fund work-related to vertical takeoff and landing research at the school’s rotorcraft lab, and high-speed flight experiments reaching up to Mach 8, or 6,000 mph.

“I think most of you know how deeply I care for this city and its people, how much I love being part of a place with so much grit, and grace, and potential,” University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) President Jay A. Perman, MD, told several hundred members of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (DPOB) at the group’s annual meeting Sept. 12. “I can’t imagine a higher honor than being in a position to help Baltimore reach that potential, to help it become what we know it can be.”

The Maryland Momentum Fund has been successful in its first couple of years but needs to do a better job of marketing itself to all of the University System of Maryland’s institutions, the fund's director told the system’s Board of Regents Thursday. The fund, which the system uses to invest in startups related to system institutions, has ...

Pharmaceuticals have come a long way since the apothecary days of prescribing cocaine drops for toothaches, or dispensing tapeworm diet pills.

The University System of Maryland recently invested $250,000 in a University of Maryland alumna’s biotech company.

RegenxBio Inc. just locked in another deal — this one with a company working to treat eye diseases.

The Rockville biotech has reached a licensing agreement with Alpharetta, Georgia-based Clearside Biomedical Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSD) for rights to its platform to treat several eye diseases including wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. RegenxBio (NASDAQ: RGNX) plans to evaluate one of its own gene therapy programs, called RGX-314, using Clearside’s in-office injection as an alternative to surgery.

With nothing more than a passing glance, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of Roche Holdings' (OTC:RHHBY) cancer drug entrectinib last month was a run-of-the-mill announcement. In fact, it was almost boilerplate in its tone and feel.

A small clinical study in California has suggested for the first time that it might be possible to reverse the body’s epigenetic clock, which measures a person’s biological age.

For one year, nine healthy volunteers took a cocktail of three common drugs — growth hormone and two diabetes medications — and on average shed 2.5 years of their biological ages, measured by analysing marks on a person’s genomes. The participants’ immune systems also showed signs of rejuvenation.

Baltimore-based Capsulomics won the top award in Utah last month at a pitch competition that was part of a boot camp for early-stage companies founded by military members, veterans and military spouses.

In the world of drug discovery and development, there is increasing pressure to get novel products to market faster, cheaper and ahead of the competition. This is exactly what Insilico Medicine is helping leading pharmaceutical companies to achieve through their artificial intelligence technology for drug discovery.

The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) continues to thrive and currently occupies the fourth spot in the most recent Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (GEN) top ten U.S. biohealth cluster rankings. More importantly, the collaborative efforts across industry, academia, government and nonprofits within the BHCR have generated powerful momentum that is now producing tangible results: The region has moved up two spots in GEN’s rankings in the last five years.

United Therapeutics Corporation (UTHR) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the New Drug Application (NDA) for Trevyent® (treprostinil) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The FDA assigned the NDA a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of April 27, 2020. Trevyent is a post-phase III development-stage drug-device combination product that combines two-day, single use, disposable PatchPump® technology with treprostinil, for the subcutaneous treatment of PAH.  

Are you finding it harder to recruit, hire and retain the biotech workforce you need?

Well, you’re not alone.  With the demand for talent at an all-time high, competition has never been greater. 

With product candidates acquired from AstraZeneca (AZN) and MedImmune, Viela Bio (VIE) is clinical-stage biotechnology to be followed carefully. Besides, at Phase 3 of development, the company could deliver positive results in 2020, which may make the share price run. After the IPO, we expect Viela to have an enterprise value between $180 and $310 million. With that, in our opinion, savvy individuals will try to acquire shares at an enterprise value of $200 million.

Venture funding for digital health companies reached an all-time high in the first half of 2019, totaling $5.1 billion across 318 deals, according to a recent report.

QIAGEN N.V. has announced that it has decided to integrate its global sales resources into its Business Areas (Life Sciences, Molecular Diagnostics and Bioinformatics). This transition is expected to allow the Business Areas to oversee the full value chain from innovation to commercialization, which is expected to further increase focus and agility. QIAGEN plans to provide an update during the fourth quarter of 2019.