There are lessons for other industries in the way pharma companies use mergers to innovate, work more efficiently, and bolster product portfolios.

Baltimore-based AgeneBio announced a pair of grants from the National Institutes of Health that will assist with clinical trials of a treatment to combat the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

MaxCyte announced the first patient has been dosed in its Phase I dose-escalation clinical trial in the United States with the company's lead wholly-owned chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapeutic candidate, MCY-M11. The study is designed to evaluate MCY-M11, a mesothelin targeting CAR, in individuals with relapsed/refractory ovarian cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma.

However long a business has operated, investors will look for three big things if they are going to invest.

U.S. healthcare companies have collected $23.4 billion in venture capital funding this year — already surpassing the amount the sector obtained in all of 2017, according to a recent report from Pitchbook, which tracks VC investments.

The number of open innovation challenges in pharma grows by the day. But what’s driving them? That’s what Luminary Labs wanted to know. So the consultancy, which works with pharma and other industries to design and execute those kind of challenges, surveyed the executives at companies that run the contests and asked why and how they do it.

The first Biohealth Capital Region Investment Conference kicks off this week in Montgomery County. The conference marks an important inflection point for a region whose entrepreneurs have been calling for more active investment resources for years.  The event also fulfills a promise made by organizers at past BioHealth Capital Region Forums to bring more investment activity to the region.

Europe’s biotech industry recently celebrated its growth and progress with more than 120 events taking place across 18 European countries September 24 –30, in what organizers call “European Biotech Week.”

Biopharma venture capital activity maintained its red-hot pace during the third quarter of 2018, driven by a handful of deals exceeding $200 million, according to a report released this week.

This has been a year marked by many notable biotech deals, especially in the immunotherapy market.  One deal, in particular, has generated more local excitement in the BioHealth Capital Region than any other; that is the BeneVir acquisition by Janssen, a JNJ company.  Likewise, of the many startup stories and local entrepreneurs we’ve highlighted this past year, none is as unique and interesting as that of BeneVir Co-Founder and COO, Katherine (Katie) Sacksteder, PhD.

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security authors recommend dedicated attention to and investment in 'potentially transformative' technologies to complement traditional approaches to prevention, preparedness, and response

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) Request for Proposals (RFP) for FY2019.

Some big cities could see shortages of cancer specialists in the coming decade, according to a new analysis by Doximity, a social network for more than a million physicians. Researchers at the company delved into the data on oncologists and found there’s an imminent wave of retiring physicians. The areas most likely to see shortages: Miami, Virginia Beach, and Tampa. But other cities could also see large portions of the cancer physician workforce retire relatively soon. In half of the 50 metropolitan areas surveyed, more than 20 percent of practicing oncologists are over age 65.

The local funding environment is mirroring the gangbusters national funding situation.

Valneva USA, the U.S. subsidiary of global vaccine biotech company Valneva SE, today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of an accelerated dosing regimen for IXIARO® (Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine, Inactivated, Adsorbed), the only vaccine approved in the United States indicated for protection against disease caused by Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus.

BioHealth Innovation sponsors quarterly office hours in Montgomery County and at Johns Hopkins Fast Forward (Fast Forward hours are for JHU innovators only).

BioHealth Capital Region innovators not located at Fast Forward can register for SBIR office hours on the following dates.

• Tuesday - Nov 6, 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Germantown Innovation Center
• Wednesday - Nov 7, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Rockville Innovation Center
• Tuesday – Feb 12, 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - Germantown Innovation Center
• Wednesday --Feb 13, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. - Rockville Innovation Cente
• Wednesday – May 8, 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.- Germantown Innovation Center
• Thursday -- May 9, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. - Rockville Innovation Center

To register for the open sessions, click here.  (BHI also will be hosting a more general SBIR overview with office hours on January 29, 2019.  Mark your calendar; more details to follow.)

If you and your team are located in the BioHealth Capital Region, BHI may prepay for experts to help you improve your SBIR and other non-dilutive funding applications for biohealth related projects. Your only obligation is that if you win the award, you reimburse BHI for the consulting fees (typically $1500 or $3000) and a minimal program management fee (ten % of the prepaid consulting fee i.e. $150 or $300).

For more information contact BHI.

Are you a start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? business/commercialization plan, pitch deck, or idea?

Schedule your feedback session with BHI EIRs on one of the following dates: 

• 10/31
• 12/5
• 2/13
• 3/20
• 5/22

(30 minute blocks of time beginning at 9:00 in the morning. If the morning slots are filled, more time will be allotted beginning at 1 p.m.)

Pre-registration is required; sign up here (“EIR resource”at BHI). For questions/more information, contact BHI.

The University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) has been renewed for funding under a cooperative agreement grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A collaborative partnership led by James Polli, PhD, the Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in Industrial Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP), and William E. Bentley, PhD, the Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Chair of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), M-CERSI is one of only four FDA-funded CERSIs in the United States and the only CERSI to receive continuous funding from the FDA since it launched in 2011.

Led by Joel Marcus, Founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities

October 9th at 4:20pm

One MedImmune Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

Networking Reception to follow

RSVP by 2 p.m. 10/8 to:  amy@taylormadeexperience.com

Dear Friend:

On Wednesday, October 17th, I will be hosting a follow up discussion to a Biotech forum held earlier this year that addressed ways to help the biotechnology sector thrive in Montgomery County. I will be joined at this discussion by Congressman Jamie Raskin, Dr. Anthony Saleh, CEO, miRecule Inc. and Dr. Chris Austin, Director of the National Center for Advance Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH.

The topic will be whether federal ethics and conflict of interest restrictions on NIH (intramural) scientists impede the competitiveness of our region’s biotechnology enterprise by limiting incentives for starting new commercial ventures.

This meeting will be held at Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus, Room 121 in the 9605 Building, which is located at Medical Center Drive in Rockville. Parking on campus is available; however, a parking permit is required. Please park in the lot adjacent to the building located at the corner of Key West Avenue and Broschart Road. To ensure you receive a parking permit you must RSVP to this event. The event begins at noon and is scheduled to end at 1:30pm. A light lunch will be provided. Please email your RSVP to Walton Harris at Walton.Harris@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240-777-7945.

Best,

George L. Leventhal
Montgomery County Councilmember

A 450-person gathering in Detroit’s Eastern Market this week made it clear Michigan sits at the intersection of development in the mobility space, Midwestern affordability and investor interest.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities chairman and co-founder Joel Marcus sit down with Bloomberg's Rebecca Spalding in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) President & CEO James C. Greenwood today issued the following statement on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA):

BIO supports the USMCA and appreciates the Administrations efforts to prioritize biotechnology innovation, including provisions that update intellectual property protections and agricultural market access to 21st century standards.

Anqoinette Crosby hosts County Report This Week. On this episode: Members of Governor Larry Hogan’s cabinet visited the county to discuss transportation and other topics with the Montgomery County Planning department, Artspace broke ground in Silver Spring, Biohealth Innovation will take part in an upcoming conference, Aspen Hill residents voice their opinions about cell towers, and the World of Montgomery Festival takes place on October 21 from 12-4p at Montgomery College in Rockville.

When: Thursday, October 18, 2018 from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM EDT

Where: CRB Office 1801 Research Blvd #620 Rockville, MD 20850

It's harvest time again and we're continuing our Fall Oktoberfest tradition with a special Open House event at CRB's Rockville office; featuring local microbrewery, Brookville Beer Farm.  Join us on Oktober 18th to help celebrate a year of tremendous growth within our region with a firm who is responsible for designing and building the facilities that many local companies are expanding into. 

The Georgetown Venture Lab, a university effort to support alumni startup founders, is now live at the WeWork location at 15th and G streets NW.

DATE AND TIME: Mon, October 22, 2018 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM EDT

LOCATION: Montgomery College Germantown Bioscience Education Center, 20200 Observation Drive, Bioscience Education Center, Room 151/152, Germantown, MD 20876

Montgomery County Government requests that you join County Executive Isiah Leggett and Council President Hans Riemer at the Commercial Buildings Broadband Summit, Monday October 22, 2018, 8 am to 1 pm.

The purpose of the Summit is to bring together select business leaders in commercial real estate development and leasing, gigabit fiber networks and wireless 5G and IoT, and leading business sectors to discuss how broadband-ready commercial buildings can support today’s business needs and what strategic direction the County should take to prepare for tomorrow’s business growth. There is no charge to attend, but space is limited and reservations are required.

When the Danaher Corporation announced in May 2015 that it would split into two separate enterprises in 2016, it seemed at first like a reversal of the company’s history. Danaher had built itself into a remarkably successful business over four decades by acquiring and integrating new companies into a unified whole, improving them through a group of distinctive management practices known as the Danaher Business System (DBS), then holding onto them.

Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage immunotherapeutics company, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of common units and pre-funded units for a combined total of 2,400,000 units. Each common unit is being sold at a public offering price of $5.00 and consists of a share of its common stock and a warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $6.00. Each warrant will be exercisable immediately and will expire five years from the date of issuance. Each pre-funded unit consists of a pre-funded warrant to purchase one share of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.01 per share and a warrant. The purchase price of each Pre-funded Unit is equal to the price per common unit being sold to the public in this offering, minus $0.01. The pre-funded warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until all of the pre-funded warrants are exercised in full

Maryland Tech Council (MTC) announced today that, with the support of the Maryland Department of Commerce, the Maryland Tech Council Venture Mentoring Services (MTC VMS), will expand beyond Montgomery County to serve entrepreneurs throughout Maryland. The MTC VMS, which started just two years ago, has trained more than 60 mentors. The program uses a unique team approach to mentoring and is focused on technology and life sciences companies that are preparing to raise their first or second round of venture capital or institutional financing.

The fund aims to invest in larger, more mature companies primed for growth.

Many health systems acknowledge that partnering with digital healthcare startups is a necessary step toward innovation, but if providers do not tend these partnerships carefully, they will not be able to reap their benefits.

CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASI), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and delivery of high quality, cost-effective pharmaceutical products and innovative therapeutics to patients in the U.S., China and throughout the world, announces the appointment of Larry Zhang to the position of President of CASI (Beijing) Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., the China operating subsidiary of CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.