January 16, 2024  -  By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Principal Investigator Robert K. Ernst, PhD, the Dr. Paul and Mrs. Jean Corcoran Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD) and Distinguished University Professor, has been awarded a five-year, $9.4 million contract from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to continue work developing and testing novel adjuvants for the improvement of vaccines. Ernst was awarded $6.4 million in funding through the same NIAID program in 2018, bringing his total funding for adjuvant development to over $16 million.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoImmuneTech, Inc. (NIT or "NeoImmuneTech"), a clinical-stage T cell-focused biopharmaceutical company, today announces the appointment of Luke Oh, Ph.D., as President, effective immediately.

Dr. Oh is an expert in regulatory policies and drug development, encompassing both biologics and small molecules. He brings over six years of regulatory experience at the U.S. FDA. His recent tenure at Samsung Bioepis as Vice-President in charge of Regulatory Development was marked by the successful preparation and submission of seven biosimilar applications to regulatory agencies in the US, EU, UK, and Canada. Prior to this position, he has worked as Senior Staff Fellow at the U.S. FDA Division of Clinical Pharmacology III and Division of Inflammation and Immune Pharmacology, and he has held various roles in research and development for leading organizations such as Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Human Genome Sciences, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Oh has a Ph.D. in Neuroimmunology from the McGill University (Montreal, Canada).

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has secured an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) procurement contract with a maximum value up to $235.8 million to supply BioThrax^® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) for use by all branches of the U.S. military as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for anthrax disease. The new contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and led by the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, is comprised of a five-year base agreement ending on September 30, 2028, and an additional five-year option that would extend the contract to September 30, 2033. 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – January 11, 2024 – Luminoah Inc., a medical technology company dedicated to improving the standard of care for patients requiring enteral nutrition, has been awarded a $463,000 grant from Virginia Catalyst. This funding propels Luminoah’s innovative enteral feeding system one step closer to commercialization, poised to grant millions of users the freedom to feed themselves anytime, anywhere, while empowering healthcare providers to support their patients remotely. 

The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), announced that it has awarded $2.2 million in grants to four life and bioscience projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These grants, which will be met with significant matching funds from partner companies, were awarded through Grant Round 15 of Virginia Catalyst’s ongoing mission to stimulate economic development by promoting collaborative projects that address large, unmet needs for improving human health, and that can create high-paying jobs in the Commonwealth.

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• New Business Unit Veridix AI Launched to Embed Technology and AI in Day-to-Day Clinical Operations
• Dr. Rama Kondru to Join the Emmes Group as CEO, Veridix AI
• Industry Leader Matthew Holt to Join Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmes today announced the creation of the Emmes Group, with Sastry Chilukuri serving as its executive chairman and chief executive officer. The company also announced a new board member, Matthew Holt.

The Emmes Group will have two business units: Emmes, its Clinical Research Organization (CRO) led by Peter Ronco, and Veridix AI, the newly launched technology and artificial intelligence (AI) group, led by recently appointed executive Dr. Rama Kondru.

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The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), today announced that it has awarded $2.2 million in grants to four life and bioscience projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These four collaborative projects, involving Virginia research universities and industry partners, were awarded through Virginia Catalyst Grant Round 15 to address major unmet healthcare needs and drive job creation and capital formation in Virginia.

Through this 15^th round of funding, Virginia Catalyst has awarded 61 grants totaling $29.7 million, resulting in over $47 million in matching funds and an additional $821 million in follow-on funding to date.

January 9, 2024 / By Clary Estes - National wastewater viral activity levels for COVID-19 have been  very high since December. (It wasn’t your imagination that everyone seemed sick over the holidays.) Currently, wastewater data is the best way to track COVID infections as most people are testing at home and not reporting their status. And currently, wastewater levels indicate that about 2 million Americans are getting infected each day.

This means that we are now in the second-highest COVID surge, after Omicron. As we hover around the fourth year of living with COVID, it is clear COVID could be endemic. With surges such as we are seeing now, personal safety measures are still very much needed—including (and especially) staying up to date on COVID vaccines.

KeifeRx is currently advancing programs investigating KFRX03, KFRX04, KFXR05 and KFX06 in neurodegenerative, neuroinflammatory, and mast cell-associated diseases

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- KeifeRx, an emerging clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of new treatment options for neurodegenerative and immune diseases, announced today entry into an amended exclusive licensing agreement with Georgetown University to advance the development of novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) chemical entities (NCE) for the treatment of multiple disease indications. The amendment provides an extension of the exclusively licensed rights to these four novel chemical entities for the treatment of new disease conditions including inflammatory, mast-cell associated diseases, and oncology, in addition to existing rights in neurodegenerative diseases. KeifeRx is currently conducting optimizing and IND-enabling studies involving four separate formulations of the TKI (renamed KFRX03, KFRX04, KFRX05, and KFRX06) with patent life through 2037.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHPH) ("Shuttle Pharma") today announced they have received the 'Safe to Proceed' letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Company's investigational new drug (IND) application for its Phase II study of Ropidoxuridine (IPdR) as a radiation sensitizing agent during radiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed IDH-wildtype glioblastoma with unmethylated MGMT promoter. Receipt of the letter allows Shuttle to commence the Phase II study.

Shuttle Pharma is currently finalizing site enrollment with 'first patient, first dose' expected in the coming months. Ropidoxuridine is Shuttle Pharma's lead radiation sensitizer candidate for use in combination with radiation therapy (RT) to treat glioblastoma, a deadly malignancy of the brain with no known cure.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is soliciting proposals from small business concerns that possess the research and development (R&D) expertise to conduct innovative research that will contribute toward ARPA-H mission needs and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program objectives.

SOLICITATION 75N91024R00006 is anticipated to be made available on or about January 23, 2024 through SAM.gov.  This solicitation is anticipated to have a closing date of February 22, 2024 for receipt of proposals.

The purposes of the SBIR program are to: (a) stimulate technological innovation; (b) strengthen the role of small business in meeting Federal research/research & development (R/R&D) needs; (c) foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and women-owned business concerns; and (d) increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R/R&D, thereby increasing competition, productivity and economic growth. 

Are you prepared to discover a transformative shift in orthopedic innovation? Join us in this episode of BioTalk with Rich Bendis as step into the world of Nanochon with CEO Ben Holmes.

The overall deal flow in biopharma tapered off in 2023 but the big companies sure know what they want (what they really, really want), according to a new report from J.P. Morgan.

And that’s antibody-drug conjugates, which drove a fourth-quarter spike in licensing deal proceeds and provided a glimmer of hope to an industry battered by outside forces and grim financing prospects.

2023 was tough, but clinical biotechs still had a lot of opportunities to wheel and deal, according to J.P. Morgan. While licensing deals, venture investments, M&A and IPOs were down overall in the fourth quarter, deal values stayed fairly high thanks to a flurry of late-stage tie ups.

• NeuMoDx CT/NG Assay designed to improve accessibility, affordability and timeliness in sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing in the U.S.

• U.S. regulatory clearance of new assay for use on both NeuMoDx 96 and 288 versions of integrated PCR-based clinical molecular testing system

• Global presence anchored by 16 EU-certified in-vitro diagnostics (CE-IVD) tests, positioning NeuMoDx as having one of the broadest test menus available to customers

Germantown, Maryland, and Venlo, the Netherlands, Jan. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for the NeuMoDx CT/NG Assay 2.0, growing its test menu for its integrated PCR-based clinical molecular testing systems NeuMoDx 96 and 288 in the United States.

This assay is designed for direct detection of asymptomatic and symptomatic bacterial infections involving Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and / or Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) – the most common type of bacterial infection among sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The majority of these infections are asymptomatic and generally curable with existing single-dose regimens of antibiotics. However, the time it takes for results to be received is often long, impeding follow-up care.

Board appointees represent expertise of Maryland's academic research institutions

COLUMBIA, Md., Jan. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TEDCO, Maryland's economic engine for technology companies, announced the recent appointment of Christina DeMur, director of technology development at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, to the Maryland Innovation Initiative Board of Directors.

The Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) was created as a collaboration between the State of Maryland and five Maryland academic research institutions: Johns Hopkins University (JHU); Morgan State University (MSU); University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP); University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB); University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Recently this collaboration has expanded to include two more comprehensive universities – Frostburg State University and Bowie State University. This expansion will allow MII to further its reach and help bring more innovative research to the market.

Thomas (Tommy) Luginbill has accepted the position of executive director of the Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC). PIC MC is part of Montgomery College’s efforts to grow a hub of education, business, and entrepreneurship, where industry partners co-locate and actively interact with faculty and students to achieve both educational and economic success. In this capacity, Luginbill will continue to advance the development of this innovative science and technology hub in collaboration with academic, corporate and government partners. 

"I am honored to follow in the footsteps of those who have paved the way before me at PIC MC. Their dedication and hard work have laid the foundation for our mission,” Luginbill said. “We are committed to building upon this legacy, creating a vibrant hub for education, business, and innovation that will continue to thrive and benefit the Montgomery County community. Together with our partners, we are ready to embrace this challenge and honor the past while shaping the future."

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- MaximBio, a leading Maryland-based manufacturer specializing in lateral flow and diagnostic devices, is announcing the receipt of a $49.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). This funding is designated to fortify the domestic manufacturing capabilities for diagnostic tests and enhance preparedness for potential future pandemics. The award is part of a broader initiative awarding $600 million to 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers.

Project NextGen is a $5 billion initiative to develop next-generation medical countermeasures, including vaccines and therapeutics, to enhance preparedness for future COVID-19 strains and variants.

MANASSAS, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced a five-year, $87 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to support the development of next-generation medical countermeasures (MCMs) to protect Americans from public health security threats such as coronaviruses.

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GlycoMimetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLYC), a late clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing glycobiology-based therapies for cancers and inflammatory diseases, today announced positive initial safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic results from a Phase 1a study of GMI-1687 in healthy volunteers.

There’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, or AI, these days. AI is everywhere—from virtual assistants to facial recognition software. The technology is even assisting doctors and scientists. So what exactly is AI? And how is it helping advance scientific research?

“AI is basically trying to teach computers to ‘think’ in the same way as the human brain,” says Dr. Despina Kontos, an AI researcher at Columbia University.

One approach to AI uses a process called machine learning. In machine learning, a computer model is built to predict what may happen in the real world. The model is taught to analyze and recognize patterns in a data set. This training enables the model to then make predictions about new data. Some AI programs can also teach themselves to ask new questions and make novel connections between pieces of information.

Maryland biotechnology company promotes improved patient outcomes for infants with body deformities

COLUMBIA, Md. (January 3, 2024) – TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $200,000 investment from its Life Science Investment Fund (LSIF) into PediaMetrix, a biotechnology company working to detect body deformities in infants and improve patient outcomes. TEDCO’s LSIF lives under the Seed Funds umbrella and invests in companies that have a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) pathway. Participating in this round were also Blu Ventures, as well as a pediatrician.

Lion TCR to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation® technology and ExPERT™ platform to develop and scale TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors and viral-related diseases.

ROCKVILLE, Md. and SINGAPORE, Jan. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MaxCyte, Inc., (Nasdaq: MXCT; LSE: MXCT), a leading, cell-engineering focused company providing enabling platform technologies to advance the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation cell therapeutics and innovative bioprocessing applications, and Lion TCR, an Asia-based, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of T cell receptor (TCR)-T cell therapies for solid tumors and life-threatening viral infections today announced the signing of a strategic platform license (SPL). This partnership will enhance MaxCyte's presence in Asia, with anticipated expansion into the US and European markets.

FDA IDE approval of Sonavex's randomized trial comes months after meeting the endpoint of its first clinical study

BALTIMORE, Jan. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Sonavex, Inc., a privately held medical device company with ultrasound technologies that deliver quantitative blood flow and other critical vascular data at the point of care, announced that it completed its initial clinical study evaluating the ability to use EchoMark & EchoSure to improve the assessment of arteriovenous (AV) fistula maturation for dialysis patients. Following the positive findings from this study, Sonavex was granted approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for its randomized controlled trial, MAFASA (Maturation of Arteriovenous Fistula with Automated Sonography Assessments).

In this episode of BioTalk with Rich Bendis, we’re joined by three guests from Solaxa: CEO & Founder Christian Walker, Chief Operating Officer Luis T. Gutierrez, Jr., and Chief Commercial Officer Jennifer Butler. Solaxa is a pioneering biotech company with a mission to revolutionize the treatment of cerebellar ataxias and acute nerve injuries caused by trauma and chemotherapy.

Discover the compelling story behind Solaxa’s choice to establish its roots in Montgomery County and how the BioHealth Capital Region has played a crucial role in its growth. Learn how Solaxa’s team was assembled, including the inspiring success stories of Luis and Jennifer, both part of the BioHealth Innovation and Montgomery County Maryland’s Executive in Residence program.

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• The year “gaslighting” of women with hard-to-diagnose maladies was finally given the kabosh?
• The year we found the hormone causing acute morning sickness?
• Impressive and large funding rounds despite a bleak funding environment?
• “Birth control for men” makes it to the clinical trial stage?

By Anna Zornosa - In the shadow of one very bad, no-good horrible development setting women’s health back decades (the overturning of Roe V. Wade), I spent the year taking note of some amazing advances happening in the pursuit of health solutions for women. Curious if others were also seeing bright spots, I asked some of the smartest women I know if they’d also seen events signaling notable progress.

My timing was bad: with the holidays upon us I knew some could not answer. But to my delight I got observations Barbara Levy, MD, FACOG, FACS : from CEO/Founders Somer Baburek, MBA (Hera Biotech), Melody Roberts (Liv Labs), and Melissa Bowley (Flourish Care); from author Susan Salenger; medtech designer and diversity driver Nada (Osman) Hanafi ; investors Jessica Karr and Susan Solinsky; and Ayse McCracken, Founder of the Ignite Accelerator for women leading life science companies.

What did we miss? A lot, certainly. Please add your own “brightspots of note” to comments. This will create something we can all turn to if (when) bad developments happen in 2024.

• CEPI to invest funding of up to $34.8 million to Barinthus Bio in addition to funds previously committed to the University of Oxford to develop and stockpile a ready reserve of emergency MERS vaccine candidate, VTP-500.
• VTP-500 project with Barinthus Bio and University of Oxford uses tested ChAdOx1 platform.
• If successful in Phase II trials, this will progress VTP-500 significantly towards regulatory approval and doses could be rapidly deployed in a clinical trial setting in response to a substantial outbreak.

OXFORD, United Kingdom, Dec. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BRNS), formerly Vaccitech plc, today announced a project with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the University of Oxford, aiming to fast-track the development of a vaccine candidate known as VTP-500 for the prevention of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the often fatal disease caused by the MERS coronavirus. Barinthus Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel T cell immunotherapeutic candidates designed to guide the immune system to overcome chronic infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and cancer.

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GERMANTOWN, Md., Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Deka Biosciences ("Deka") today announced the appointments of Stanley Frankel, M.D., FACP, as senior clinical advisor, interim chief medical officer and scientific advisory board member, and Stuart Chaffee, Ph.D. as an independent director and chairman of the Board. Deka is a privately held biotech company developing next-generation cytokine therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases based on a patient's individual immune response. Deka's lead asset, DK2¹⁰ (EGFR), is currently being evaluated for the treatment of multiple solid tumors in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

On December 8, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a draft guidance document regarding the government’s exercise of “march-in” rights under the Bayh-Dole Act. The following Q&A, in connection with our previously published Client Alert, illuminates the details of the Proposed Framework.

Q: If my company takes SBIR/STTR funding from a federal agency, does the Bayh-Dole Act apply?

A: Yes. A company that receives Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding is considered a “contractor” under the Bayh-Dole Act. As such, inventions conceived of or first actually reduced to practice using SBIR or STTR funds will be subject to the Bayh-Dole Act. This applies even if the funds are used only to develop confirmatory data for an invention conceived of without the use of SBIR or STTR funds.

Have you ever wondered about the true impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the BioHealth industry? In this episode of BioTalk with Rich Bendis, we have the privilege of hosting Dr. Juergen Klenk, a Principal at Deloitte and a Board Member at BioHealth Innovation. Dr. Klenk brings a wealth of expertise and experience with a unique background combining formal scientific training and entrepreneurial ventures.

Join us as we embark on an insightful discussion about the current state of AI in the BioHealth industry, diving deep into the realities and challenges of this cutting-edge technology. Dr. Klenk shares his interest in AI and the reasons behind its increasing prominence in the field. We explore the historical origins of the AI hype cycle and how we've reached the stage we're in today.

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Irazu Oncology, which is using a platform built by researchers at University of Maryland, Baltimore to develop cancer vaccines, has secured $2.6 million in debt from an undisclosed source, according to a recent listing on Crunchbase.

Founded by Marco A. Chacón, an industry veteran who founded and ran Paragon Bioservices for over two decades, Irazu Oncology is commercializing UMB’s novel immunotherapeutic vaccine technology. It operates out of the University of Maryland BioPark. The company is a winner of TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative Company Formation Awards.

Novel Approach

Irazu Oncology has a licensing deal with UMB to commercialize a membrane vesicle vaccine development platform built at the university by a research team led by James Galen, Ph. D. The platform uses the outer membrane of vesicles — a structure within or outside a cell — as cancer vaccines that can stimulate an immune response. Irazu Oncology’s proprietary, attenuated bacteria are engineered to produce OMVs bearing tumor antigens on their surface. These antigens are delivered to various sites in the body, stimulating a natural immune system that can destroy cancerous cells.

by Ellen D. Harpel | Dec 17, 2023

As Smart Incentives marks its 10th year, we have been revealing the top ten ways that incentives have changed since 2013. We are pleased to share the full list of incentive trends here in our last blog article of 2023. 

1. Big incentive deals are getting bigger. Top projects receive significantly higher offers than in the past. The most prominent incentive packages are for new electric vehicle and semiconductor facilities. However, looking past these high profile projects, the average incentive offer has been surprisingly stable over the past decade.

2. The rise of remote work. Remote and hybrid work continue to reshuffle our living and working patterns. Incentives to attract remote workers have become part of the landscape. Many traditional business incentive programs are adjusting how they count workers to account for remote or hybrid work.

3. Better project compliance and reporting. State and local governments have improved their ability to track incentivized projects, monitor performance, and share results with internal and external stakeholders. 

In a landmark study led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, researchers discovered for the first time that a certain kind of protein similar to hemoglobin, called cytoglobin, plays an important role in the development of the heart. Specifically, it affects the correct left-right pattern of the heart and other asymmetric organs. The findings, published today in the journal Nature Communications, could eventually lead to the development of new therapeutic interventions to alter the processes that lead to these defects.

The team, led by senior author Paola Corti, PhD, along with along with University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, as senior co-author, used CRISPR gene editing technologies to knock out the cytoglobin gene in zebrafish. The lack of cytoglobin caused the development of embryos with a mirrored heart, meaning the heart had a reversed left-right pattern. In humans, cytoglobin is involved in processes involving nitric oxide, a compound that helps regulate healthy blood flow to organs.