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Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board Update | Second Edition
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JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY - MARYLAND CENTER FOR CELL THERAPY MANUFACTURING
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In December 2017, Governor Hogan announced a groundbreaking new partnership between the state, Johns Hopkins University, Cognate Bioservices, and Forest City to invest $17 million to establish the Maryland Center for Cell Therapy Manufacturing in Baltimore City. This critical infrastructure investment will leverage Maryland’s robust clinical and research base to become a world leader in the regenerative medicine industry. Johns Hopkins representatives are still developing the objectives and initiatives of the Center. The LSAB will continue to share updates as this initiative progresses.
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One of the key goals of the LSAB is recruitment, expansion and retention of major corporations in the biohealth arena. In January, Paragon Bioservices announced it is planning to grow its staff from 225 employees to over 425 in the next three years, as it expands in the University of Maryland BioPark, and adds a new manufacturing space in Anne Arundel County.
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Another key effort of the LSAB is implementation of innovation assets to grow industry. To that end, the Maryland Department of Commerce, Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences, in partnership with the FDA, Bob Storey, and the Center for Medical Technology Policy is working to create the FDA Medical Device "Test Bed." The Test Bed aims to de-risk the development and commercialization of novel and innovative medical devices, and encourage the adoption of these devices, by bringing together the major stakeholders involved in developing, producing and reimbursing devices.
The “Test Bed” will facilitate interactions between innovators, companies and public health and regulatory bodies, to identify and address patient need, with the primary goal of improving public health, and patient care and outcomes. This effort will be executed through coordinated collaborations with the FDA, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, payers, health systems, the private sector, academia and others to develop and implement innovations that address priority health-related issues. The FDA has committed time and resources for the “Test Bed” implementation and included efforts in their priorities within the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiologic Health Strategic Priorities for 2018 – 2020.
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During the December 2017 LSAB conference call, five working groups were formed for the strategic purpose of implementing the 2017 LSAB final recommendations. The following workgroups were formed:
- Working Group 1 - Leverage and grow current asset base and accelerate commercialization - Bob Storey, Chair
- Working Group 2 - Increase connectivity among and awareness of Maryland’s biohealth assets and resources - Doug Liu, Chair
- Working Group 3 - Increase availability and access to capital for early through advanced state BioHealth companies - Wendy Perrow, Chair
- Working Group 4 - Grow talent pool of experienced BioHealth entrepreneurs, business leaders, graduates and scientists with commercially relevant experience - Laurie Locascio, Chair
- Working Group 5 - Task Force on Federal Commercialization Opportunities - Rich Bendis, Chair
All Working Groups met via conference call during January with the expressed purpose of selecting additional team members from outside the LSAB. Additional representatives for all Working Groups have been selected and contacted. All working groups will have in-person meetings in February to begin their implementation efforts of the LSAB recommendations.
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MARYLAND INNOVATION MARKETPLACE
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Objective 2 of the LSAB final recommendations sought to identify assets, resources, and market differentiators and promote them within and outside Maryland to increase connection and collaboration opportunities throughout the state and beyond. To that end, each month we will seek to identify small startup companies in the biohealth, life science and health IT arenas and provide them a forum to the LSAB members and beyond. Our hope is that we may help to create synergistic opportunities that seek to help more established companies innovate and grow, while providing a potential opportunity for partnerships for the startup.
Our efforts, part of what we call the “Maryland Innovation Marketplace,” will likely expand to monthly webinars to provide a similar forum and ongoing promotion from our website with the Department of Commerce's MDBizNews Blog and social media. The following are our initial company profiles, both graduates of the initial cohort of M1, a a new Baltimore-based startup accelerator focused on connected health and fitness technologies. M1 was a partnership between Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, Plank Industries, the University of Maryland (through UM Ventures), Brown Advisory, the Abell Foundation and the Maryland Department of Commerce.
b.well
Baltimore-based healthcare technology company, b.well Connected Health is generating significant buzz as it transforms employer healthcare management. b.well empowers customers managing risk with data transparency and real-time dashboards, while delivering the cohesive health experience today’s consumer demands. The company puts consumers at the center of their healthcare and aims to be the one location on a mobile device for a consumer to access their healthcare, transforming an overly complex and expensive industry to a simple on-demand experience. Learn more about them here and here.
BurnAlong
Baltimore-headquartered BurnAlong works with local and national companies, and successfully drives up corporate wellness engagement and drives down healthcare costs by making it as easy and motivating as possible for employees to exercise. BurnAlong partners with hundreds of gyms, studios and wellness professionals nationwide; and employees and their families have unlimited access to hundreds of online video classes from BurnAlong's partners, accessible via their computers, phones, tablets or TVs. There are classes for all ages and levels, ranging from bootcamps to barre to prenatal to stretching and back yoga for seniors. Watch this video clip from Baltimore's Fox 45.
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