In the past couple of years there has been a rise in sovereign wealth funds’ investments in healthcare. These cover a wide range of areas from hospital chains to pharmaceutical companies, but it also includes direct investments in digital health startups. China Broadband Capital invested in smartphone diagnostic developer Scanadu and French Groupe Arnault includes Clue, a maker of female health apps, among its investments. Alaska Permanent Fund is one of the founding investors in Denali Therapeutics, a biotech business targeting neurodegenerative disorders.

Two years ago, life science startups were only six percent of the Google Ventures portfolio. 



As 2015 draws to a close, that industry now is nearly one third of Google Ventures investments and is only going to grow larger, says the president and CEO of Google's venture arm, Bill Maris.

Rockville-based Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was recently recognized as the #1 fastest growing Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical company in North America and the #4 overall fastest growing technology company in the latest Technology Fast 500 put out annually by Deloitte.

On November 13, 2015, Deloitte released the 2015 Technology Fast 500, an annual ranking of the fastest growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech sectors.  Supernus claimed the top spot in the Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical industry with a growth rate of over 15,000 percent from 2011 to 2014.  Headquartered in Montgomery County, Maryland, Supernus is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

We're another step closer to extending the life span of human beings.

Researchers in Switzerland have been studying the effect of genes on the aging process and have published their results in the journal Nature Communications. Of the 40,000 genes they studied, they found 30 that allow a variety of animals, including roundworms, zebrafish, and mice, to stay healthier and live longer. But these scientists focused specifically on genes that are also found in human beings, so the next step in their project is to see if these genes also have an impact on us as well.

Arlington cybersecurity start-up ThreatConnect said Tuesday that it has raised $16 million from investors, led by the corporate venture capital arm of SAP’s North American subsidiary in Rockville. The next morning just down the road in Sterling, Va., a similarly-named start-up called ThreatQuotient said it raised $10.2 million, led by prolific technology investor New Enterprise Associates. A few weeks ago Arlington-based Trustar announced a $2 million in seed funding.

Jeff Carroll inherited the DNA mutation that causes Huntington’s disease. It means that in a decade or two, he’ll lose control over his body and slowly go mad, just like his mother.

That’s the reason Carroll, 38, says he’d be in favor of gene editing embryos. He says the idea of correcting DNA errors in the next generation has no “ick factor” for him at all. “I have no compunctions about it,” says Carroll, who is a neuroscientist at Western Washington University, in Bellingham. “I am saying, please, please do mess with our DNA.”

Supports K@W's Innovation Content Pfizer Inc. raked in more than $12.4 billion in revenue in both 2007 and 2008 from just one drug, Lipitor. The cholesterol-lowering mega-blockbuster accounted for more than a quarter of the pharmaceutical giant’s total revenue in those years.

But those golden days couldn’t last.

The D.C.-based venture capital firm Revolution Growth is bringing on additional talent.

The firm, founded by AOL co-founder Steve Case, Monumental Sports & Entertainment's CEO and owner Ted Leonsis, and Donn Davis, announced the hiring of four new vice presidents Tuesday to help spur additional investments and push for a greater return on its portfolio.

DATE:  Wednesday, December 9, 2015
LOCATION: Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20850 

The FDA Technology Transfer program seeks to advance the development and commercialization of inventions that result from regulatory science research and development conducted at the FDA. Regulatory Science can be defined as the science of developing new tools and technologies to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance of FDA-regulated products. Technology Transfer tools used by the FDA Technology Transfer Program are the same tools used by Federal Agencies and FDA technology transfer-related policies are similar to the policies of the NIH and CDC. However, the range of technologies developed at the FDA is more diverse- a reflection of the FDA’s role in ensuring the safety of food, drugs, biologics, medical devices, tobacco, and veterinary medicines. 

In this day and age, you can easily share photos through Dropbox, notes in Evernote, or spreadsheets via Google Drive with anyone. But good luck helping two doctors at two different hospitals to see the same patient records online. Instead, when a patient goes to a medical center for the first time, they often have to repeat tests they've undergone before—such as a computerized tomography (CT) scan, which uses X-ray technology to produce cross-sectional images of the body.

Thursday, December 10, 2015 from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, bwtech@UMBC

Senator Mikulski is retiring.

Governor Hogan is just getting started.

Who’s the next champion of Maryland’s life sciences sector?

Please join We Work For Health (WWFH) Maryland and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) as we explore how to develop Maryland’s next generation of elected leaders to foster medical innovation and grow our regional bio-economy.

Over breakfast, members of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, government, labor, and academic community will discuss the importance of identifying and cultivating medical innovation leaders to help address our challenges and make the most of our

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) is bringing in an industry veteran to turn its $106 million Maryland Venture Fund into a regional leader in venture funding.

Andy Jones, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, joined TEDCO on Monday as managing director of the Maryland Venture Fund. Jones’ prime task will be to elevate the fund from a supporting investor to a leader in venture capital that drives more money to local companies.

No one wants to be the flavor of the month – except during that month.

That’s the danger for today’s healthcare startups and their leadership as they look to find the right investors and partners. Our prediction: Alternative investing paths such as venture philanthropy and corporate venture capital will become even more prominent than they are today (and that’s pretty big, considering the results of the survey Lake Whillans commissioned from MedCity News).

Thursday, December 10, 2015 | 6:30pm-8:30pm, Johns Hopkins East, 1101 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 | 3rd Floor Conference 

Learn how to secure National Institutes of Health SBIR/STTRs for your high-tech bio-innovation.

Dr. Doswell lead JUICE Money wins for high-tech minority companies and HBCUs such as:

• 3 NIH SBIR/STTR grant awards in 2015.
• 1 DOD RIF grant award in 2015.
• 1 CASIS grant award for testing innovation onboard the International Space Station in 2015.
• 1 Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) Phase II award for Morgan State University in 2015.
• 1 Maryland Space Grant Consortium Award for Morgan State University in 2015.
• Secured Maryland TEDO awards.
• Secured a Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) award
• Secured NSF STTR Phase I/II awards.
• Helped fund the Robotics Technician Program at Baltimore City Community College.

Virginia Beach has long been an expert at luring visitors with its sun and sand.

But now, there’s a serious effort under way to attract men and women who will spend the majority of their days indoors.

Earlier this month, the Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development launched VABeachBio (vabeachbio.com), an initiative to attract biomedical and life science businesses to the city.

A collaboration between the University of Cambridge and MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, has led researchers to identify a potentially significant new application for a well-known human enzyme, which may have implications for treating respiratory diseases such as asthma.

Enzymes are biological catalysts – molecules that speed up chemical reactions within living materials. Many enzymes are already well characterized and their functions fairly well understood. For example, the enzyme known as MMP8 is present in the connective tissue of most mammals, where it breaks the chemical bonds found in collagen.

When Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz founded their namesake venture firm in 2009, they laid out a clear-but-narrow vision for investing in a new wave of Web-based innovation.

Andreessen, in particular, espoused a net-centric view that was absolute. “No clean tech, no rocket ships, no electric cars. No China or India,” he told Fortune magazine at the time. Biotech likewise was out of the question. In the six years since then, Andreessen Horowitz has grown into a $4 billion VC, and established itself as a leading tech investor. Andreessen’s observation that “software is eating the world” has become an industry axiom, as Web-based services have invaded and taken over financial services, education, and a host of other sectors.

How would you engineer a baby? I mean really, actually do it.

Last April, Chinese researchers reported that they had tried genetically editing human embryos for the first time to correct a disease gene. Out of more than 80 embryos, however, only a handful came out correctly. In the rest, the gene didn’t get fixed properly, or they ended up with unintended alterations to their DNA (see “Chinese Team Reports Gene-Editing Human Embryos”).

Construction is complete on a new 700-spot parking garage at Universities at Shady Grove, clearing the way to begin moving dirt on a planned $162 million biomedical sciences building on its Rockville campus.

Work will start on that facility in June, said Stewart Edelstein, associate vice chancellor of the University System of Maryland, the state's public university network that includes USG. The full project, which included the $20 million garage and a new entrance onto campus, will be completed by fall 2018, said Edelstein, who is also USG's executive director.

With the cost to sequence a human genome dropping by the day and medical records finally going digital, public health experts are excited for a new era of personalized, or "precision," medicine—a big data future in which there is no "average" patient, only individual patients with unique genes, environments, and lifestyles. As a measure of this excitement, this year, President Obama launched a $215 million initiative that will create a health database from 1 million volunteers that is unprecedented in detail. Breakthroughs in prevention, understanding, and treatment of disease are hoped.

Following the Maryland Venture Fund’s transition under TEDCO’s purview last month, there’s now a new director of the quasi-public, early-stage funding resource.

Andy Jones is now the Managing Director of the Venture Fund, tasked with “defining MVF’s strategy and leading team members,” according to a news release. TEDCO chief Rob Rosenbaum made the announcement at last week’s Entrepreneur Expo event, and the organization made the formal announcement Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration late Monday broadened the use of an already available anthrax drug from Emergent Biosolutions Inc. EBS, -0.57% to a larger treatment population. The agency approved Emergent's BioThrax for use in people 18 to 65 years old who have had suspected or confirmed exposure to anthrax. Previously, the indication for the drug was for people who were at a high risk of exposure to the bacteria. Emergent Biosolutions shares rose 1% to $38.10 after hours.

Real estate giant Alexandria Real Estate Equities has unveiled sweeping plans to transform a 56-acre Research Triangle Park site into a campus for life science and agricultural technology companies.

Plans for the campus call for more than 1 million square feet of space.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ vision to turn a mostly undeveloped property in Research Triangle Park into its latest life science cluster is moving forward with a first phase intended to boost offerings for early-stage startups.

Pasadena, CA-based Alexandria (NYSE: ARE), which operates science and technology campuses across the country, announced the RTP plans today. Alexandria will start by refurbishing an existing building and laying the groundwork for development expected to reach 1 million square feet of space. Those RTP plans put the property shy of similar Alexandria science campuses in San Francisco; Cambridge, MA, and New York. But Alexandria CEO Joel Marcus says each site reflects its market.

Hot biotech startups are attracting increased venture funding, and venture investors are ensuring a slot in the financing of these types of companies by starting the company themselves, Brian Gormley reports for Dow Jones VentureWire. The latest venture firm to do so is SR One, the venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline PLC.GSK.LN +1.16% The group, which invests in medical technologies, has added an entrepreneur in residence to its Cambridge, Mass., offices and has seeded its first startup through the effort, a company formed to develop drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases. The firm’s launch of its own company comes after 30 years of funding existing companies.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015 | 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
The Observation Gallery at Baltimore Washington
International Thurgood Marshall Airport

Meet with over 30 companies and learn about their technology and relationship to Maryland.

Keynote address by Mike Gill, Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce

Economic Development in Maryland...the Next Chapter
New Addition! Immediately after the Showcase join OurCrowd for an update on The Startup Nation: Israel’s Vibrant Economy.

emocha Mobile Health received a Small Business Innovation Research grant to further development of its mobile app that provides video-based healthcare observations in some cases where visits were previously required.

The NIH grant, which is for about $200,000 over two years, will allow the Johns Hopkins-based startup to gather data on its miDOT app from Tuberculosis patients in four health departments around the state, said cofounder Morad Elmi. The system is already in use at Baltimore’s health department.

Most companies make a conscious and deliberate decision to embrace digitization and the information revolution. Yet the role of big data in medicine seems almost to compel organizations to become involved. In this interview, Dr. Eric Schadt, the founding director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at New York’s Mount Sinai Health System, tells McKinsey’s Sastry Chilukuri how data-driven approaches to research can help patients, in what ways technology has the potential to transform medicine and the healthcare system, and how the Icahn Institute is building its talent base. An edited transcript of Schadt’s remarks follows.

This week, Andreessen Horowitz said it’s launching a fund dedicated to investments in bioinformatics and “beyond the pill” technology.  The venture capital firm had already gotten its feet wet with investments in these areas, but a dedicated fund is something new and indicates an interest in ramping up its strategy. With its fund, the firm could make a big impact. Here are some insights on some challenges and opportunities in these areas and some companies the firm should consider.

First of all, it’s worth noting some of the health and life science IT companies that Andreessen Horowitz have invested in so far. It’s only a handful to date:

The new president and chief executive officer of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology has roots in high flight and high finance and every intention to bring skills from both sectors to his new job. Ed Albrigo, appointed Nov. 2 by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to succeed Peter Jobse, who has returned to the private sector after 13 years with the nonprofit CIT, says his goals are lofty — maybe seeding Virginia companies to remotely mine for minerals on the moon and bring them back for use in fusion energy.

Pfizer has clinched a blockbuster merger with a fellow drug maker, one worth more than $150 billion, that can best be described in superlatives.

When it is announced — most likely on Monday, people briefed on the matter said — the deal to buy Allergan, the maker of Botox, would be one of the biggest ever takeovers in the health care industry. And it would be the largest acquisition yet in a banner year for mergers.

PHARMACEUTICAL majors AstraZeneca and Sanofi have agreed to swap 210,000 compounds from their proprietary libraries as part of efforts to encourage open innovation in drug development. No money will change hands between the two companies, in what is a relatively new collaborative approach. Both companies will be able to increase the diversity of their compound libraries. AstraZeneca and Sanofi have chosen compounds from each others’ libraries which plug gaps in their own, and will share chemical structures and the procedures to make them.

Dr. Robert L. Caret was inaugurated as chancellor of the University System (USM) of Maryland on November 19, 2015 at the Christopher Columbus Center in Baltimore, Md. The event featured remarks by several Maryland dignitaries and members of the USM community; musical performances by current USM students; as well as the following video tribute.

Imagine you’re back in high school and you’re sent on a field trip to a local pharmaceutical company. You spend the day talking to scientists, touring the labs and ... making ice cream?

That’s what your day would look like if you showed up at Emergent BioSolutions Inc. as part of MdBio Foundation’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education opportunities.

This week, PricewaterhouseCoopers came out with a report on remaking primary care for what the consulting form called “the New Health Economy.” We would have covered it straight up on Wednesday, but a certain provider-focused health IT reporter at MedCity News was busy at the American Medical Informatics Association conference.

Since it’s not breaking news anymore, we have to take a different angle. A major component of the future of primary care, according to PwC, will be digital health.