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Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report |

3 Achievements show bioscience vitality, by Donald C. Fry

4 Workforce training initiatives spark interest in biotech

6 Baltimore area biotech parks pop

13 Profile: Amethyst Technologies CEO Kimberly Brown

14 Baltimore-Washington area biotech map

17 Fledgling start-ups are finding success

20 Technology transfer: The next great jobs generator?

24 Maryland biotech is bringing home the bacon

27 GBC 2011 Bioscience Awards

28 2011 Biotech industry events

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BD Diagnostic Systems ........................................................................2The Community College of Baltimore County ..................Back coverThe Daily Record ......................................................Inside back coverGreater Baltimore Committee ............................................................16Martek ..................................................................................................11Maryland Biotechnology Center........................................................18Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development..27Miles & Stockbridge PC ......................................................................23TEDCO ..................................................................................................10UM BioPark ..........................................................................................21Whiteford | Taylor | Preston ....................................Inside front cover

This marketing report is preparedfor the Greater Baltimore Committee by

the Special Publications staff of

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Table of contents

Cover photo by senior photographer Maximilian Franz

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bioscience vitalityrecent achievements show

In a tough economic cli-

mate, Maryland’s bioscienceindustry marked some recentsignificant achievements thathighlight the state’s bio-science industry work andwhere its strengths lie.

A look at the state of Maryland’s bioscienceindustry shows that thereare more than 400 core bio-science companies inMaryland representing 8percent of the industry totalin the United States. This is

the second largest cluster of bioscience companies in the country.About half of our companies are engaged in develop-

ing therapeutics. Another 25 percent provide researchservices and the remaining companies provide gene-based diagnostics, medical devices and R&D technology platforms. A total of 45 Maryland companies are engagedin 160 clinical trials. The best way to understand thesecompanies is to hear the stories of what just a few of themhave accomplished.

Martek, a Columbia-based leading innovator in thedevelopment of nutritional products that promote healthand wellness and one of Maryland’s largest and most prof-itable bioscience companies, was acquired in December by Royal DSM NV, a global life sciences and materials sci-ences company. Royal DSM’s move was its first acquisitionafter a successful transformation to a life sciences andmaterials sciences company. The acquisition is expected toproduce increased revenues through expanded distribu-tion, marketing and product development.

Baltimore-based Gliknik, which has been on a upwardtrajectory for several years, started this year off by announcing that it had raised $3.5 million in equity financing. Located at the UMB BioPark on Baltimore’swest side, Gliknik is a biopharmaceuticals company thatis creating new therapies for patients with cancer andimmune disorders. Its expertise is in modulation of theimmune system to fight disease.

Profectus Biosciences Inc., located in Baltimore’sHolabird Industrial Park, also reached both research andfinancial milestones. Profectus started Phase I clinical tri-als to assess the safety and immunogenicity of its multi-antigen HIV DNA Vaccine. Profectus received $4.4 millionin grants last October to develop an HIV prophylacticvaccine. Profectus will use the funds to further evaluate itstransition-state vaccine (TSV) approach that has generat-ed significant protective responses in several pre-clinicalmodels of HIV.

The ultimate goal is that one of our companies willhave the next big blockbuster drug, and we may be close.

Rockville’s Human Genome Sciences is seeking FDA

approval for its lupus drug Benlysta. Late last year anFDA advisory committee voted 13-2 to recommendapproval of Benlysta for sale in the United States.Following the advisory committee meeting, the FDAasked Human Genome Sciences to provide additionalinformation, which it has done. The company is nowwaiting for FDA’s final decision. If approved, Benlystawould be the first new approved drug for lupus in morethan 50 years.

In addition to companies like Human Genome Sciencesand Martek that are bringing products to market, start-upcompanies continue to emerge from our research univer-sities. At the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkinsin East Baltimore, two new companies developing Hopkinstechnologies have found a home in the park — Curvedaand Personal Genomic Diagnostics. The new LieberInstitute, a private research foundation focused on newdiagnostics and therapies for schizophrenia, is expected tomove there in May. At the UMB BioPark, the $44 millionMaryland Forensic Medical Center is now housed inBuilding Four. The park will also be home to a new Proton

Therapy Cancer Treatment Center.Clearly, Maryland remains a leader in bioscience. The

challenge for us all is to keep its leadership position in ahighly competitive global climate. This means makingsure that key funding mechanisms like Maryland’sbiotech tax credit are funded at reasonable levels and thatinnovative new funding sources such as the governor’sInvest Maryland initiative are supported. Even duringchallenging financial times, for Maryland to remain com-petitive it is critical for our elected leaders to invest in eco-nomic growth and job-creation initiatives for emergingindustries such as bioscience.

Donald C. Fry is president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

By Donald C. Fry

“The Greater Baltimore Committeeremains strongly committedto seeing this promisingindustry grow and thrive formany years to come.

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4 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

The 56-year-old’s search for anew career took her to Baltimore’sEastside One-Stop Career Center,where she heard an informationalsession by the BioTechnicalInstitute of Maryland Inc., aBaltimore-based nonprofit thatprovides free training for adults tobecome entry-level biotechnicians.Phillips decided to apply. The com-petition was stiff: About 20 candi-dates were chosen from an estimat-ed 200 under- and unemployed

BB Y E LIZABETH H EUBECK

Baltimore resident Debbie Phillips spent 35 years in thehospitality industry, advancing from room service attendantto restaurant manager.

Most recently, she logged 18 years at Baltimore’s SheratonHotel. Then, in October 2008, she was laid off unexpectedly —victim of a hostile new economy in which downsizing would,for the next few years, become the norm. Despite her advanc-ing age, limited education, and work experience restricted toa languishing industry, Phillips said she wasn’t deterred.

spark interestin biotech

Workforce training initiatives

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Baltimore resident Debbie Phillips spent 35 years in the hospitality industry, advancing from room service attendant to restaurantmanager. After being laid off in 2008, she trained for laboratory work with the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland Inc. Today she is a labassistant at Towson University’s Center for Stem Excellence.

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applicants, primarily Baltimoreresidents. Phillips made the cut andpersevered through the intense 21-week training — a combination of academic refresher courses andhands-on laboratory work.

Today, Phillips is a laboratory assistant at Towson University’sCenter for Stem Excellence, in the

Columbus Center at Baltimore’sInner Harbor, and has returned tocollege as a biotechnology majorafter a 37-year-hiatus from school.

“Every day at work is new;every day is fun,” Phillips said. “If it wasn’t for BTI, where they pushyou to do what you want to do, Idon’t know where I’d be.”

BTI’s training program hasproduced 230 employment-ready graduates since its launch in 1998,and is just one of several statewideinitiatives aiming to increaseMaryland’s reputation as a poten-tial work force powerhouse in thebiotech industry. The state boastsmore than 400 core biosciencecompanies, making it the second-largest such hub in the U.S.,according to Ernst and Young. Butindustry experts say that’s notenough. They want to see morework force opportunities at every level — from entry-level lab tech-nicians to visionary entrepreneurs— to propel the state’s biotechindustry even further.

The push for more biotech-pre-pared workers is a “top down”directive. In June 2008, Gov.Martin O’Malley announced hisBio 2020 Initiative, which declaredthe state’s decade-long commit-ment to invest $1.3 billion inMaryland’s bioscience industry.On the heels of the initiative camethe Baltimore- and Rockville-basedMaryland Biotechnology Center,launched by the O’Malley adminis-

tration in fall 2009 to showcaseand support biotech innovationand entrepreneurship inMaryland.

“When we talk about workforce, we need to think of allaspects of supporting that equa-tion,” said Dr. Judith Britz, a scien-tist and entrepreneur tapped by O’Malley to lead the center.

EE xx pp ee rr tt ss nn ee ee dd ee dd Britz acknowledged that while

Maryland is rich in highly trainedmicrobiologists, it is short on otherkey work force elements requiredfor the industry to continue grow-ing. Missing, she said, are entre-preneurs focused on bridging thegap between research and devel-

opment and technology transferand commercialization. Regulatory affairs is another area Britz said is

ripe for expansion, a componentcritical to bringing new productsto market. Any company that has aproduct — drug, diagnostic ordevice — that eventually willrequire U.S. Food and DrugAdministration clearance for salesand marketing needs to know allaspects of the regulatory process.Hopkins and UMBC both haveadvanced degree programs in theniche, and the region is floodedwith FDA consultants who haveretired from the FDA.

Britz said there is a “gap,” how-ever, in getting companies tounderstand how regulatory affairswork, and to access training orpeople with expertise.

“Part our role is to communi-cate to companies that they needto start the [regulatory] processearlier than they are thinking,”said Britz, who explained thatthere’s often a gap between whenentrepreneurs think they shouldbegin the regulatory process, andwhen they actually end up begin-ning. That is particularly true for

people who work in federal labo-ratories or academic institutions,where knowledge about FDA reg-ulatory processes may not beengrained, she said.

“It’s really a question of compa-nies embracing sooner, ratherthan later, access to regulatory affairs knowledge and training,”

Britz said.Entrepreneurial and regulatory

training opportunities must befortified in Maryland, she said, “tomake sure our work force under-stands their availability.”

To highlight and boost theseareas of Maryland’s biotech indus-try, the center has establishedpartnerships with several educa-tional and training organizations.According to BTI’s website, itsstatewide partners now includesix four-year universities; fourtwo-year colleges; and three tech-nical institutes, BTI among them.Although the MarylandBiotechnology Center’s lean fiscalstatus precludes it from offeringformal programs in those areas,Britz has shared the urgency of those needs with the center’s con-sortium of two- and four-year col-leges.

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In addition to risk-takingentrepreneurs and precision-

“ When we talk about work force, weneed to think of all aspects ofsupporting that equation.

- Dr. Judith Britzexecutive director,Maryland Biotechnical Center

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“Biotech parks provide a place for early stage com-panies to be near universities where the technology came from,” said Lisbeth Pettengill, vice president,

Greater Baltimore Committee. “It’s an opportunity tobe close to your inventor. The parks offer a relatively seamless transition from the lab to the commercialsector. It’s an environment for collaboration amongstcompanies and has a synergistic effect.”

“They are popping right now,” Judith Britz, execu-tive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center,said. “The biopark model has evolved over time. It hastaken time to gel.”

There is plenty of space available, and plenty to bedeveloped down the road. Proponents’ focus today ison filling the currently available space, and soon.

“Bioparks have facilities for various researchers to

get the work from the Petri dish to the next level,” saidGeorge W. Kemble, MedImmune’s senior vice presi-dent of research and development.

“The United States has moved from a manufac-turing to a knowledge economy,” said ArisMelissaratos, senior advisor to Johns HopkinsUniversity President Ronald Daniels. “Bioparks offera place for startup companies to locate. [TheUniversity of] Maryland and Johns Hopkins startedparks because they were accused of not doingenough to create new businesses.”

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bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park is a71-acre community established to help high potentialearly-stage technology and bioscience companies suc-ceed in commercializing their technologies and thrivein an increasingly competitive marketplace. The parkhas incubator and accelerator programs for early-stage companies while providing affordable office andwet lab space with flexible leasing terms and businesssupport services. A five-building research park ishome to more established research and technology companies.

“We have 515,000 square feet of built-out space,with 65 companies in different stages of developmentand diverse technologies,” said Ellen Hemmerly, exec-utive director of the UMBC Research ParkCorporation. “We continue to attract very small lifescience companies.”

Companies cover a range of disciplines, includinginformation technology, cyber security, clean energy,life sciences such as development of medical devices,

MB Y J OSEPH P ATRICK B ULKO

Maryland has embraced the biopark model asa means of encouraging early-stage technology companies, and the Baltimore region is home toseveral: bwtech@UMBC Research andTechnology Park, the University of MarylandBioPark and the Science + Technology Park atJohns Hopkins.

baltimore area biotech parks

Frank Turano, chief research officer for Plant SensorySystems, in the company’s lab at the UMBC

Technology Center.

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in vitro technologies, plant biotech, algaebiofuels, and research groups for earth andwater sciences.

Included among the companies operat-ing in bwtech North, home of the researchpark, are:

• Avanade Federal Services, a market-ing and technology consultancy thatdelivers information-driven businesssolutions;• Clear Resolution Consulting, a smallbusiness provider of performance andstrategic management, governance,process improvement and development,and technology and automation solu-tions to the Department of Defense andthe Intelligence Community;• Med-IQ, a producer of educationalactivities through multimedia formatsincluding live events, interactiveWebcasts, podcasts, satellite televisionbroadcasts in hospitals, audio confer-ences, DVDs and print publications;• Retirement Living TV/Erickson, theonly cable network dedicated exclusive-ly to serving the needs of older adultswith information and entertainment thatseeks to change the perception of aging;and• UMBC ACTiVATE — Achieving theCommercialization of Technology inVentures through Applied Training forEntrepreneurs — which introduceshighly-driven, mid-career women to thebasics of entrepreneurship and technol-

ogy commercialization.bwtech South is home toincubator/accelerator programs:

• Aurora Analytics, LLC , a developerand manufacturer of consumer andresearch diagnostic products based on aproprietary amine modification/detec-tion technology;• Clean Green Chesapeake, LLC, a greenbiotechnology and environmentenhancement startup seeking to harnessalgal biotechnology to produce biofuelsand biotech co-products, environmental

enhancement by reducing pollutant loadon the Chesapeake waters throughoutthe world, and aquacultural and agricul-

Julian N. Rosenberg, senior research scientist forClean Green Chesapeake, at work in the company’s

lab within the UMBC Technology Center.

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tural improvements;• Kydes Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a start-up seekingto design scientifically sound and cost-effectivepharmaceutical products based on state-of-the-artknowledge and technologies;• Plant Sensory Systems LLC, an

agricultural biotechnology com-pany that develops technology to improve crop performanceand mitigate negative environ-mental impacts;• ProSpect Pharma Inc., a devel-oper of proprietary technologiesenabling the interactions of mol-ecules to be studied in high res-olution; and• Synaptic Research LLC, whichconducts research and developsproducts based on naturally-occurring large protein molecules.

Of the various companies matriculating throughthe incubator or accelerator programs, 91 percent arestill in existence or have had assets sold. The successrate does not happen in a vacuum.

“Entrepreneurial talent is needed for successfulcompanies,” Hemmerly said. “We have lots of technol-ogy being developed in labs. The bigger issue is hav-ing the entrepreneurial talent and culture to be takingthe technology and forming businesses around it.”

The first incubator started humbly in 1989, consist-ing of scant 8,000 square feet on the main campus

housed in two trailers.In 1996, bwtech South opened 165,000 square feet

and, in 2001, 355,000 square feet was opened inbwtech North.

“Companies must apply to bwtech,” Hemmerly said. “They need a business plan. We have a limited

amount of space and staff. Wedecide if IP, management and

projected market make sense.Life sciences must graduatewithin four years.”Among those graduates areProfectus BioSciences, a clinicalstage biopharma developingnovel vaccine candidates forchronic viral infections andReceptor Biology, which pro-vides cloned receptors andother targets for drug discov-ery.

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The UM BioPark is a university-associated researchpark that works to accelerate the commercialization of biotechnology and economic development in the sur-rounding community as well as the Greater Baltimoreregion. Its community of life science companies andacademic research centers are developing new drugs,diagnostics and devices and advancing the field of biomedical research.

“We are a research park,” said Jane Shaab, seniorvice president of the UMB Health Sciences ResearchPark Corporation. “We are pure to the model of the

A cell culturelaboratory housedwithin bwtech@UMBCResearch andTechnology Park.

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

biotech parks continued from 7

The first incubatoropened within bwtech

South in 1989.

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university researchpark. Many of our ten-ants are still in theprocess of developingproducts. We’re seeinglots of activity in early stage companies. Wehave very aggressive

research units. We’reembedding a hotshotuniversity researchteam in each building.”

“Facilitating relation-ships is at the highestlevel in our office,” Shaab said. “We use strength of research and talent as marketing to bring those com-panies into the park and [enhance] collaboration. Thenwe work very hard to understand where theirresearch [is headed].”

Services and amenities include:• Access to the UM Health Sciences and HumanServices Library, which contains more than350,000 volumes and 2,500 journal titles;• Access to the research faculty and an extensivearray of core facilities, labs and services of the uni-versity and its professional schools of medicine,dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and law;• On-site conference facilities;• Café and catering services;• On-site fitness center;• Retail banking services at Harbor Bank’s BioParkbranch;• Dedicated campus police substation providing24-hour BioPark security; and• Free Circulator shuttle service throughthe BioPark and UM campus to the InnerHarbor, Harbor East and Fells Point.

Future plans for the 10-acre parkinclude 1.8 million square feet of lab andoffice space in 12 buildings, as well asgarage parking and landscaped parks atfinal build-out. So far, 470,000 square feetin two-multi-tenant buildings, one 638-space parking garage and the state of Maryland’s new Forensic Medical Centerare complete. Development of a third multi-tenant commercial building is continuing.

BioPark Two, completed in July 2007,

offers space within six stories totaling238,000 square feet, a sophisticated loaded shell laband offices with conference facilities and theBioInnovation Center, which includes pre-constructedwet labs. Tenants include Westat, which providesresearch services to government agencies, commer-cial entities, foundations, universities and other healthresearch organizations; Gliknik Inc., a privately ownedcorporation committed to the discovery and develop-ment of novel biomolecules for autoimmune diseasesand cancer; and Amplimmune, a product-focusedcompany developing immune-based biologics to treat

cancer, autoimmunity, transplantationand infectious diseases.

The biopark is not an incubator.Companies operating there can expect toenjoy long-term, ongoing relationshipswith the university’s research facilities.

“We would like full building users ormulti-building users,” she said. “At no

matter what stage you come into thepark, we want to keep you forever.”

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An ambitious addition to the Baltimorebiopark community is the Science + Technology Parkat Johns Hopkins University, part of a larger livablecommunity consisting of housing, shopping and otheramenities. The 31-acre park, initially planned for 1.1million square feet within five buildings, offers state-of-the art laboratory facilities designed to support thesophisticated research requirements of today’s mostcutting-edge corporations and institutions.

“The project combines commercial real estate withcommunity development,” said Christopher Shea,president and CEO of East Baltimore DevelopmentInc. “It links economic development and real estatedevelopment.”

Developers expect the retail component will consistof ground floor retail stores, restaurants and grocery stores. A new public school is planned for the neigh-borhood, Shea said.

The plan is to create a “walkable urban neighbor-hood,” a mixed-use environment where residents can“walk to work or to graduate school” and where “life

science is the commer-cial component of themixed use,” Shea said.“People who live herewill work here, withfamilies across theincome spectrum.We’re directly con-necting them so thatthey will support eachother.”

Among thepark’s planned ameni-ties and features are:

• Lab and officespace meeting the requirements of emerging andestablished research organizations;• Seamless access to Johns Hopkins scientists andfacilities;• New housing, shops, restaurants and parking;• Flexible lab and office layouts, with build-to-suitcomponents;• Sophisticated base building systems;• High-capacity infrastructure;

See biotech parks 10

Future plans for UM’s 10-acre BioPark include 1.8

million square feet oflab and office space in

12 buildings. Twomulti-tenant buildings

are complete.

The Lieber Institute forBrain Development, a neu-roscience research institu-

tion, focuses its research onthe causes of schizophreniaand related developmental

behavioral disorders, as wellas new diagnostics and

treatments.

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• Landlord-funded tenantimprovements; and• Fully negotiable lease terms.

The park’s East Baltimore homewas “an extremely rundown neigh-borhood of mostly abandonedhousing,” Hopkins’ Melissaratossaid. The area was “razed to createan 88-acre active community” fea-turing new buildings, graduate stu-dent housing, a hotel and new res-idences.

The new life sciences building isopen, at 80 percent occupancy after two years of operation. Avariety of companies occupy thebuilding, including some emergingand migrating companies thatrelocated from elsewhere, so-called“landing parties,” and Johns

Hopkins entities such as endowedinstitutions like the Brain ScienceInstitute, created to find solutionsto fundamental questions aboutbrain development and function.

Other tenants include thepark’s developer, Forest City;Siemens Imaging; the Howard

Hughes Medical Institute;BioMarker Strategies, a tissue-based cancer diagnostics compa-ny developing the SnapPath ex vivo biomarker platform to

improve cancer treatments;Inostics, a diagnostics servicecompany providing moleculartools to support individualizedcancer patient management anddrug development, developingDNA-based tests for the detectionof genetic changes, such as somat-ic mutations, from blood or tissuesamples from patients. The LieberInstitute for Brain Development, anew neuroscience research insti-tution focused on the causes of schizophrenia and related devel-opmental behavioral disorders aswell as development of new diag-nostics and treatments, is expect-ed to begin moving in by May.

“The demand for life sciencespace in Baltimore market is differ-ent from when the building wasbeing planned,” said Scott Levitan,senior vice president and develop-

ment director of the Forest City —New East Baltimore Partnership.“[Originally], we expected bigpharmaceutical companies, butpharma has changed their businessmodel. They don’t want to ownlabs. The business model swungover to small companies bringingidea development, swung over tocollaboration and nurturingbetween pharma and the smallercompanies. The smaller companiesare more entrepreneurial — moreideas are tested — and they’re con-stantly mining for great ideas com-ing out of research.”

“The future of East Baltimore isin life sciences,” Shea said.

“People who live here will work here, withfamilies across the income spectrum.

- Christopher Shea president and CEO, East Baltimore Development Inc.

biotech parks continued from 9

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minded regulatory affairs person-nel, an equally strong demandexists in the state’s biotech indus-try for entry-level employees whowant stability and the prospect of advancement.

“We are always looking for

trained, reliable, high school-level graduates to fulfill techni-cian-level positions,” said Jay Reuben, chief scientific officer of Infectious Diseases at BDDiagnostics, based in Sparks.

Reuben, a member of BTI’sboard of directors, has hired afew of the institute’s graduates towork in his laboratory. Onewoman began as a temporary employee in 2004 and remainsemployed at BD Diagnostics full

time. She has nearly completedher associate’s degree; as a com-pany benefit, BD Diagnostics paidher tuition.

“We at BD encourage ourassociates to further their educa-tion,” Reuben said. “Once she fin-ishes her degree, she’ll be eligiblefor more opportunities.”

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While training programs likethose sponsored by BTI supportunder- and unemployed adults,some of the state’s educationalinstitutions are striving to piquean interest in biotech careerseven earlier.

In 2005, Garrison Forest, anall-girls college preparatory school in Owings Mills, partneredwith Johns Hopkins University toestablish WISE, or Women inScience and Engineering. Theintensive semester-long “experi-ential program” enables high

school juniors and seniors fromGarrison Forest to gain experi-ence in hands-on research withHopkins faculty members, men-toring activities, and a tailoredcurriculum, all with the goal of preparing them to assume leader-ship roles in science, technology,engineering or math fields.

“We knew from looking at ourown students that those whowere very capable in science and

math tended not to go into majorsthat were engineering- or math-based,” said Andrea Perry, deanof special programs at the school.Since the program launched, theschool has seen a significantuptick in the number of graduateswho pursue engineering fields.

Blair Station, a third-year stu-dent majoring in bioengineeringat Brown University, participatedin the WISE program as a studentat Garrison Forest.

“I absolutely loved it. The firstday, I was blown away,” Stationsaid of her assignment in a car-diac research laboratory inHopkins’ Biomedical Engineeringdepartment. “It was very handson.”

Other area high schools alsoare providing opportunities forstudents to explore biotechcareers before college. Through aMaryland State Department of Education grant that will provide$70,000 over three years, GlenBurnie High School in fall 2011will become the BioMedical

Allied Health Magnet HighSchool at Glen Burnie HighSchool. Academically eligiblestudents will apply for spots tothe school’s magnet program.Those accepted will engage in acurriculum that will allow themto study and explore careeropportunities across the spec-trum of health care professions,via coursework, shadowinghealth professionals, and intern-ships. Participants also can earnfour college credits in generalbiology.

Students will still take basiccore courses, but can focus elec-tives on biomedical sciencecourses.

“In the past, they might havepicked whatever their friendswere taking,” said DeborahAlbert, a teacher specialist forCareer Connections Technology in the Anne Arundel County Public School System. This pro-gram, she hopes, will motivatestudents to get more connected totheir education.

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1994, and graduate degrees fromthe University of Maryland,College Park.

While working on her doctor-ate, she was accepted for aninternship in 1998 at Cell SystemsInc., another local biotech firm.Apart from that company’s owner,Brown was the only other employ-ee. They provided services toWalter Reed Army Institute of

Research’s Pilot BioproductionFacility.After her internship ended in

2000, Brown stayed on as an oper-ations and validation manager forthe Walter Reed contract, whichrequired her to manage Food andDrug Administration complianceprocesses for equipment and soft-ware.

“I was instrumental in incorpo-rating software development intothe contract and validation — moreengineering-type services,” Brownsaid.

While she enjoyed working atthe company, she said she hadalways wanted to own her ownbusiness. She wanted to do some-thing different, outside of corpo-rate America, with the flexibility totake on new ventures.

“I approached my employer oneday and I said ‘I would like to owna business’ and he said, ‘That’sgreat, because I am ready toretire.’”

“It was the right time, and Ihad prepared for five years to dothat. All the time I was learningas much as I could and just tryingto look at ways to expand the

business,” she said.In the process of buying her

boss’s contract and formingAmethyst, Brown attended theUniversity of Maryland, BaltimoreCounty campus’s yearlong entre-preneurship training program,Achieving the Commercializationof Technology In Ventures throughApplied Training forEntrepreneurs or ACTiVATE, runby the Path Forward Center forInnovation and Entrepreneurship.Created at UMBC, ACTiVATE aims

to increase the commercializationof technology innovations fromMaryland research institutions by training women entrepreneurs tocreate technology-based startups.

Brown started training with theprogram in 2007 — two days aftershe took over the contract fromCell Systems.

“ACTiVATE was a catalyst to[Amethyst’s] success,” she said. “Itprovided much needed training onhow to run a business. … My back-

ground was science. I had no expe-rience prior to the ACTiVATE pro-gram in business.”

Julie Lenzer Kirk, Path ForwardCenter’s CEO, said Brown possess-es the key characteristics thatenable the program’s participantsto get the most out of it: a strongdesire to start a company, strongtechnical capabilities, a willingnessto work outside of her comfortzone, a passion for her work andthe desire to make a difference.

“She was highly qualified in herfield to deliver what the customerwanted but she had no experiencein starting a company,” Lenzer Kirk

WB Y G INA G ALLUCCI -W HITE

When Dr. Kimberly Brown was 10, her mother enrolled herin a chemistry summer camp.

“That’s where I showed an interest in science,” she saidrecently.Through years of work and

study, Brown, 39, turned that child-hood interest into a thriving busi-ness that last year generated $1.8million in revenue. Named forBrown’s February birthstone,Amethyst Technologies LLC pro-vides customized compliance serv-ices for drug development, medicaldevice manufacturing and patienttreatment, among other services.

The firm serves companies prima-rily in the biotech, pharmaceutical,health care, forensic, utility andfood and beverage industries.

About 95 percent of Amethyst’scustomer base are multiple divi-sions for the U.S. Army, Brownsaid. Quite a bit of the company’swork is related to malaria researchand treatment.

“I never thought I would bedoing this,” she said. “I still have tosometimes pinch myself. I always

thought I would do research. ... It’sthe easiest job I have ever had,even though I am working all thetime. You work and it’s as if you arenot working most days. You arebuilding something. What we aredoing is making a difference.”

The Baltimore native’s strongestsubject in school was math. Shewas part of the advanced engineer-ing course at Baltimore PolytechnicInstitute from 1986 to 1990. Whilechoosing her career path, shedecided on chemical engineeringbecause it incorporated both mathand engineering.

She received her bachelor’sdegree in chemical engineeringfrom the University of Delaware in See Brown 16

Amethyst Technologies CEO reflects on successes

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1

3

4

5

6

7

8

910

11

12

13

14

bwtech@UMBC

• Five buildings on71 acres.

• Incubator forearly-stage start-ups and researchpark.

• Office and wet labspace available.

• Home to 65 companies, includingUMBC ACTiVate, Clean GreenChesapeake LLC and AuroraAnalytics.

1 bwtech@UMBC2 Chesapeake Innovation Center3 Emerging Technology Center@Canton4 Emerging Technology Center@Johns

Hopkins Eastern5 Frederick Innovative Technology

Center Inc.6 Germantown Innovation Center7 NeoTech Incubator8 Prince George’s County Technology

Assistance Center9 Rockville Innovation Center10 Shady Grove Innovation Center11 Silver Spring Innovation Center12 Technology Advancement

Program@University of Maryland13 TowsonGlobal14 UM BioPark

Where is theThere are many incubators and laboratories in the Baltimore-Washingtonregion. We’ve focused on only a few in the Greater Baltimore area.Visit http://marylandbiocenter.org/resources/pages/Incubators.aspx for moreinformation on state funding and assistance for biotech start-ups.

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Science + TechnologyPark at Johns Hopkins

• 278,145-sq.ft. Rangos buildinghouses wet labs, start-up incubatorspace, offices.

• Housing, new public school andmixed-use retail and office devel-opment planned.

• Tenants include BioMarkerStrategies, Inostics and, in May,

the LieberInstitute forBrainDevelopment.

UM BioPark• 12 buildings planned for 10-acrepark; two multi-tenant buildingsnow open.

• University-associatedresearch park.

• Office space, loadedshell lab, wet lab space,conference facilities.

• Home to Maryland’snew Forensic MedicalCenter, Amplimmuneand Gliknik Inc.

iotech?

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said. “Like many entrepreneurs,she had an idea how to work in thebusiness, but not on the business.”

Lenzer Kirk said she believesBrown would have been able tomake the business a success on herown, but ACTiVATE acceleratedher results significantly.

Brown learned about UMBC’sTech Center through ACTiVATE.Her company has its 3,000-square-foot office housed there. The com-pany has hosted six UMBC internsover the past three years.

“We have had some excellentstudents that have made a hugeimpact to our business and I thinkthey have learned things theirpeers haven’t learned,” she said.“Our director of advanced technol-

ogy started off as an intern andnow he is full time.”Amethyst added 10 employees

last year, bringing its total to 22.“We are very nimble,” Brown

said. “It’s a diverse business.Everybody who works in the busi-ness has a different capability. We

are engineers, software develop-ers, scientists, technicians. Wehave FDA regulatory profession-als. … We are in growth sectorsand we really listen to our clients,anticipating needs instead of beingreactionary. We are definitely proactive: Where do we need to befive years from now? We neverfocus on what we are doing today.”

The Greater BaltimoreCommittee recognized Brown andAmethyst in October with itsBridging the Gap AchievementAward, which recognizes minori-ty- or woman-owned firms.

“These award winners werehonored for minority businessachievement and dedication tostrengthening the developmentof the minority and women-owned business sector,” said

GBC President and CEO DonaldC. Fry. “They are representativeof many highly-driven and suc-cessful business entrepreneursthat are examples of the kind of private-sector achievement thatdrives our economy and willdrive it through to the other side

of the recession.”Amethyst Technologies also

was named one of the top 100Minority Business Enterprises in2009. The list includes businessesfrom four Mid-Atlantic states andthe District of Columbia named by several regional businesses andgovernment offices.

Growing in business develop-ment, strategic partnerships andbranching out into the nonprofitsector are three areas in whichBrown hopes Amethyst willgrow in 2011. Future projectsinclude exploring partnershipswith large nongovernmentalorganizations and small busi-nesses as a means to expand andstrengthen the company’s labservices, as well as furtheringcollaborations with academic

institutions to develop productsthat can improve the globaldelivery of health services.

“Our goal is really to give back,”Brown said. “Everywhere thatAmethyst does business, the com-munity should be benefiting fromAmethyst’s presence.”


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“The diversity that the state hasin terms of the types of biotech thatare being pursued is really incredi-ble,” said Dr. Judith Britz, execu-tive director of the MarylandBiotechnology Center, which hasoffices in Baltimore and Rockville.“That is a tremendous opportunity for us here in Maryland.”

Most of the companies operatelike any startup business, withsmall staffs developing a big busi-ness idea, financed with a mix of public grants and private venture

capital. Others have grown intotheir own, becoming major corpo-rations and state employers, suchas Gaithersburg’s MedImmune.

“One of the reasons the state isinvesting in biotech is that eventu-ally they create the true value jobsfor the new economy,” said MarthaConnolly, director of Maryland

Industrial Partnerships at theUniversity of Maryland.

We’ve spoken with four compa-nies that are making strides inMaryland, in fields as disparate asnanoengineering, public healthand alternative energy.

ZZ yy mm ee tt iiss IInn cc ..

Working out of an office at theUniversity of Maryland, CollegePark, campus, Zymetis started outin 2007 with an eye toward thealternative-fuel revolution. Thecompany sought to capitalize onthe research of university scientistSteven Hutcheson by developingmarine bacteria capable of decom-posing plants and turning theremains into fuel for automobiles.

The idea gave way recently tothe company’s new focus: using

T

B Y J EN D EG REGORIO

They may not realize it, but when people talk aboutMaryland’s biotech industry, they also are talking aboutvirtually every other industry in the state.

The word “biotechnology” itself has a broad mean-ing, defined simply as “the use of living organisms by humans,” according to the Biotechnology Institute in

Washington, D.C. That leaves biotech with a virtually limitless range of applications, a fact that becomes clearwhen one takes a look at Maryland’s wide-ranging cropof biotech companies and researchers.


Fledgling companies finding

success

At right: Steve Hutcheson isthe founder and chief scien-tific officer at Zymetis, a

College Park-based company working to develop marine

bacteria capable of decom-posing plants and turning

the remains into fuel forautomobiles.

See success 19

A look at four companies working in different biotech sectors

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

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Eddy Agbo, chairman and CEO of Fyodor,holds a urine test kit used to detect malaria.

Fyodor also is developing an anti-malariamedication out of yeast fungus. If success-ful, such treatments could be produced anddistributed more cheaply to patients indeveloping countries.

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the bacteria to transform timberinto industrial chemicals that serveas a “green alternative” to petrole-um-based chemicals.

“When you look at the challengeof moving beyond petroleum, youhave to start to use biomass,”Zymetis CEO Scott Laughlin saidrecently, referring to trees, cornand other “biomass” that serve asfeedstock for fuel creation. Zymetis’team consists of less than 10employees, but has earned severalpatents in the last few years andlicensed its technology to at leastone ethanol producer. The compa-ny, which has received a mix of public funding and private venturecapital, hopes to one day open itsown refinery, where bacteria would

be used to produce industrialchemicals on a commercial scale.The plant likely would be outside of Maryland, Laughlin said, althoughits headquarters would remainhere.

FF yy oo dd oo rr BB iioo tt ee cc hh nn oo ll oo gg iiee ss IInn cc ..

Yeast could help to stop thespread of malaria in developingnations, according to FyodorChairman and CEO Eddy Agbo,whose company is in the process of creating an anti-malaria medicinefrom the fungus. Popular malariamedications now are primarily plant-derived.

“You have to cultivate the plant,pray for rain, pray for sunshine. It’sinefficient,” Agbo said.

A football field-sized harvest isrequired to treat 10,000 people,he estimated. By using yeast as abasis — a technique Fyodor is stillperfecting — malaria medicinecould be produced more cheaply,and hopefully could be mademore widely available than it istoday, Agbo said. Fyodor also hasdeveloped a home malaria test,which works like a standardpregnancy test strip. The productcould allow villagers in develop-ing countries to perform theirown diagnoses, saving them thetime and expense of a trip to a

far-away doctor or hospital.“Our vision is to package the test

and the medicine,” said Agbo,whose company is housed at theUniversity of Maryland BioPark inBaltimore and works in partnershipwith Johns Hopkins University.Fyodor has received a mix of publicand private financial support, andhas approached the GatesFoundation and other private fund-ing sources for more funding.While the company is several yearsfrom putting its product on themarket, it already is in talks withthe World Health Organization onobtaining the proper clearances,Agbo said.

TT hh ee BB iioo cc hh iipp

CC oo ll ll a a bb oo rr a a tt iiv v eeMolecular biology and engi-

neering come together for a collab-orative at the University of Maryland, College Park, whereabout 15 scientists and other staff are developing a microscope slide-sized chip to perform blood diag-nostic tests.

“It’s like the blood tests your

doctor performs,” said Gregory Payne, a University of Marylandprofessor and collaborative teammember. “But instead of sendingthe sample off to a laboratory andgetting the results in two weeks,wouldn’t it be great if they had achip that could do the lab analysiswhile you’re sitting there?”

The group, which formed in2002, is about five years from com-pleting what team members call a“lab on a chip,” Payne said.

But great strides have beenmade toward that goal. Severaltechniques were patented along theway, thanks largely to public fund-ing. Nanotechnology also comesinto play because the chip’s con-struction relies on electronics with

components that are, in somecases, invisible to the human eye.“Ultimately, something like this

could be used to screen for cancer,”Payne said.

BB iioo MM a a rr kk ee rr SS tt rr a a tt ee gg iiee ssPhysicians understand that pre-

scribing drugs to treat cancer is

Gregory Payne, a University of Marylandprofessor and Biochip Collaborative teammember, holds a prototype for a “lab on achip,” which one day could be used to per-form blood diagnostic tests, for example,

using a blood sample placed directly ontothe microscope slide-sized chip.

Success continued from 17

See success 23

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

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the Johns Hopkins University Institute for NanoBioTechnology,said the path to commercializationis a “massive challenge.”

“Much of research tends to bevery basic, fundamental, and quiteearly,” he said. “The pathway topharmacy — biotech, for example— or factory floor energy projects— is not very clear-cut. Corpora-tions go looking for technology that can be commercialized quickly,at a stage to scale up or market.”

The gap between the initial

breakthrough and eventual com-mercialization is a “chasm thatmust be bridged, he said. “There’sa valley of death between the ideaand the capability.”

Montserrat Capdevila, directorof sales, marketing and interna-tional relations for the HopkinsOffice of Technology Transfer,said “translational funding” isneeded to bridge that gap anddevelop the technology to thepoint where investors becomeinterested.

John Fini, director, IntellectualProperty and Technology Commercialization for Hopkins’Whiting School of Engineering,pointed at the lingering effects of the Great Recession as the culprit:“The economy is really terrible outthere.”

He also cited work force limita-tions.

“There aren’t enough entrepre-neurs locally in biotech,” he said.“We have full-employment inbiotech, but we do not have a deepbench. We need people who areentrepreneurial in nature. Mostpeople with skills are fully employed.”

Britz touched on perhaps thegreatest obstacle: Time. “Techtransfer is a slow process,” typical-ly taking 10 years from idea to

product.Despite such obstacles,Maryland has many factors in itsfavor, including the MarylandBiotechnology Center and state-

Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab has 1,500to 2,000 technologies available at any giventime, according to Norma Lee Todd, assistant

director of the lab’s Office of Technology Transfer. APL’s tech manager helps potentialinvestors pick and choose from the 130 new

inventions produced there annually and APL’s250 active patents. See transfer 22

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sponsored initiatives.“We’re an outgrowth of Gov.

O’Malley’s BIO 2020 strategy plan:the creation of a biocenter whereentrepreneurs could come to as aresource to find what they need toconnect them with existing

resources,” Britz said. Thoseresources include money, market-ing research and business planassistance.

Launched in 2008, theBioMaryland 2020 initiative pro-poses investment of $1.3 billion inMaryland’s bioscience industry over a 10-year period. An expan-sion of Maryland’s annual biotechinvestment tax credit is anotherkey feature of the ambitious plan.

MM oo rr ee cc a a nn bb ee dd oo nn ee“The bioscience tax credits get

scooped up almost instantly,” saidGene Bracken, vice president of communications for the GreaterBaltimore Committee. “The capaci-ty for more investment in Marylandhas been clearly demonstrated. Thetax credit is a very efficient way togenerate private investment in bio-science companies, and the creditmakes it much more feasible tomake those investments.”

The credit helps get companies tojourney the “death valley” betweenearly stage and the point where theventure capital firms become interest-ed. Because of the Great Recession, abit of a hiccup has been introduced tothe state’s tax credit funding capabili-ty, “limiting investment opportunitiesfor bioscience companies inMaryland,” Bracken said.

“Looks like we’re at least $4 mil-lion behind the original plan as of July 1 if the General Assembly keeps the bioscience tax credit at its

existing $8 million level,” Brackenwrote in an e-mail. “The governor’splan would have made $12 millionavailable in fiscal 2010 and $24 mil-lion available on July 1, 2012 (thebeginning of fiscal 2013). So [if] thebiosci tax credit funding stays at itscurrent level after the 2012 session,we’ll be $16 million behind.”

O’Malley’s InvestMaryland ini-tiative is another antidote,

designed to create “a public-pri-vate partnership to fuel venturecapital investment in our innova-tion economy, such as Marylandbioscience companies,” O’Malley said at the time of the program’sdebut in June 2010.

A bright spot for Maryland’stech transfer efforts can be foundat Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab,where a blizzard of innovation is

taking place.“We have 1,500 to 2,000 tech-nologies available at any giventime,” said Norma Lee Todd, assis-tant director of the lab’s Office of Technology Transfer. APL has atech manager to help potentialinvestors pick and choose. “We get130 new inventions each year, andwe have 250 active patents.”

SS uu cc cc ee ss ss ee ss oo nn tt hh ee bb oo a a rr dd ss

Cumulative data from the past10 years indicate 1,443 inventionswere disclosed, 288 U.S. patentsissued, 1,470 U.S. patent applica-tions filed, 264 license agreementsexecuted, 22 companies created,and more than $32.8 million inlicensing and related R&D incomewas generated, Todd noted.

Among the lab’s hundreds of technologies available-for-licenseare the Automated Integrated

Distress Device, a new safety device for boaters; the Drowsy Driver Detection System, a nonin-vasive system to detect fatigue; andFrontier Radio, a low-power, low-mass radio with advanced commu-nication and navigation features.

A solar recharger, theSunBlazer, nearly 10 years indevelopment, is approaching itscommercial launch, Todd said. Thedevice continually draws energy from the sun or any sufficient lightsource to provide ongoingrecharging to any of a range of electronic devices including satel-lites, laptops and cell phones.

One of APL’s success stories isthe QT Viewer™, a technology thatgrew out of the need to quickly visualize and manipulate the very large data sets generated by

LIDAR surveys. LiDAR, or LightDetection and Ranging, is a remotesensing technology that can findthe range and other informationabout a particular distant object by the means of measuring the prop-erties of scattered lights. The QTViewer was the primary XYZ dataprocessing tool of the U.S. Army Rapid Terrain Visualization pro-gram. The QT Viewer has beenlicensed by Applied Imagery LLCand released as The Quick Terrain

Modeler and the Quick TerrainReader.Jerry Krill, assistant director for

Science and Technology at theAPL, said the lab’s efforts to intro-duce research to corporate entitieshave met with success, and the labtoday is more aggressive in itsefforts to introduce research tocorporate entities, he said.

“We tend to try to explain whatis different about our technology.We show what is unique about ourtechnologies. We offer licensingopportunities. We are encouragedto license technologies that havecommercial value,” he said.

“Hopkins has an enormousportfolio of technologies avail-able,” Fekete said. “They want tomove technologies out into themarketplace. We are trying to nur-ture the partnership process with

In the past 10 years atHopkins’ APL...

• 1,443 inventions weredisclosed.

• 288 U.S. patents were

issued.• 1,470 U.S. patentapplications were filed.

• 264 license agreementswere executed.

• 22 new companies werecreated.

• >$32.8 million in licensingand related R&D income

were generated.

Transfer continued from 21

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corporations interested in ourresearch, [creating] a collaborativeprocess where the corporation andthe university both have skin in thegame. This ought to move techcapability forward.”

The tech transfer office facili-tates matching technology withentrepreneurs and investors, some-times by actively marketing partic-ular available technology andsometimes the entrepreneur learnsabout a particular technology andmakes overtures to the university.

TEDCO, the MarylandTechnology Development Corp., isanother shining light on the techtransfer landscape.

“The success rate for TEDCO-funded companies is significantly

higher than industry average[because] they’re being vetted [toqualify for funding] and the entre-preneurs get business support,”said Rob Rosenbaum, TEDCO pres-ident and executive director. Over

the 10-year horizon of TEDCO-funded entities, “in excess of 80 per-cent of them are still in business.”

Oculis Labs Inc., Encore PathInc., Seguro Surgical andIntegrated BioTherapeutics Inc. areexamples of the successes generat-ed by the TEDCO program, accord-ing to Ashley Boarman, TEDCOspokesperson. Oculis’ PrivateEyeand Chameleon are two productsdesigned to prevent eavesdroppersfrom stealing information directly from computer monitors. Encore’sTailwind is an exercise device forimproving arm function and rangeof motion in people with partialparalysis resulting from stroke,traumatic brain injury, cerebralpalsy or other brain injury. Segurodevelops and commercializes surgi-cal devices to reduce health care

costs and improve patient safety.IBT, an emerging research-basedcompany, focuses on the develop-ment of vaccines and the discovery of small molecules targetingemerging infectious agents.

TEDCO has made 230 invest-ments — $75,000 each — in smallbusinesses, creating between 1,000and 1,500 jobs.

“We have funding for about 15to 20 deals per year,” Rosenbaumsaid. “We’re technology-agnostic.”

There is a “pool of good businesspeople, but not enough entrepre-neurs,” those folks who are willingand able to enter the risky arena of the startup enterprise, he said. “Weneed to create an entrepreneurialculture to lead to more success.”

Could biotech and the associat-ed tech transfer process becomethe next great jobs generator, à lathe 1990s tech boom?

“Everyone knows that thebounce back from recessions takesplace with companies with under100 employees,” Britz said.

And Maryland has a criticalmass of such companies.“We have enormous quantities

of knowledge,” Fekete said. “Canwe turn it into money? If we canturn it loose, we’ll get rich.”

Transfer continued from 22

largely a guessing game. By thetime a tumor tissue sample hits theslide, it has been treated withformaldehyde, which kills live cells.A pathologist then must analyze thelifeless specimen, a process thatconsists largely of a visual exam,relying heavily on individualexpertise and interpretive skills.

That is where Baltimore’sBioMarker Strategies hopes to stepin. Founded in 2007, the company isdeveloping a technology known asSnapPath, which would allow doc-tors to examine living cancer cellsto better gauge how an individualpatient may respond to various

pharmaceutical treatments.Reactions to drugs and treatmentsvary greatly from person to person,and it is difficult for doctors toknow exactly how one patient willrespond without understanding thebiological composition of their spe-cific cancer cells.

“Our test is designed to predictwhat type of targeted cancer drug apatient needs based on the testingof their living biopsy sample,” said

Scott Allocco, president and co-founder of BioMarker Strategies.

The company is riding a wave of changes in cancer treatment, nowshifting from the old model of slideanalysis to live-cell examination,Allocco said, and several drugsalready on the market use tests sim-ilar to what BioMarker Strategies isdeveloping.

“But there are around 500 othertreatments under development,” hesaid. “Very few have companionbiomarker tests to go with them,

and so that’s the opportunity thatwe’re trying to take advantage of.”

BioMarker Strategies employs ateam of 10 researchers and assis-tance at the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins in EastBaltimore, supported by a mix of public and private financing,including a $2.3 million grant fromthe National Cancer Institute.Allocco said the company plans tobegin clinical trials in the next yearand potentially bring its product tomarket several years after that.

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biotech

bringinghome thebaconAttracting capital is hard,but there is great support in Maryland companies’ corner

David Block, CEO of Gliknik Inc., believes Maryland’s biotechtax credit “is the single best incentive” offered to enticecompanies to locate here. “It mandates new equity invest-ment in qualified biotech companies.” About half of themoney invested comes from outside of the state.

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“There is no doubt that theBaltimore region, to a greaterextent than the I-270 corridor, sofar lacks critical mass in biotech,”said David Block, CEO of GliknikInc. “It may be another 20 years

before we get there.”But things are changing rapidly in the Baltimore region. TheUniversity of Maryland BioPark, aresource for biotech startups inBaltimore, reported recently thatinterest from biotech startups hasgrown so much “that theBioInnovation Center’s lab space isat capacity.”

While interest in biotech start-ups has increased in Maryland,from a national perspective invest-ment in biotechnology companiesrose only 3 percent last year (in theamount of money invested);biotech-related deals increased 8percent over 2009 activity, accord-ing to The MoneyTree Report fromPricewaterhouseCoopers and theNational Venture CapitalAssociation, released quarterly based on data culled by ThomsonReuters. Biotech represented thesecond-largest investment sectornationwide, exceeded only by thesoftware industry, which saw a 20percent increase in investment in2010, resulting in a 21 percentincrease in deals over the previousyear. According to a survey by NVCA and Dow JonesVentureSources, 19 percent of ven-ture capitalists surveyed predictedthe biotech sector will fare better in2011; 69 percent predicted theinformation technology sector willfare better this year. Those sur-

veyed also cited the Mid-Atlanticregion as one of the most promis-ing for biotech sectors other thanthe Silicon Valley, New York andNew England.

“While VCs can, and do, find

attractive opportunities wherever

they are, it is not a coincidence thatour largest investors are based inthe Mid-Atlantic region — QuakerBioVentures in Philadelphia,Domain Partners in Princeton, N.J.and MedImmune Ventures inGaithersburg,” said Gary Lessing,CEO of Corridor PharmaceuticalsInc., whose company recently received a $15 million boost infunding from several Mid-Atlanticbased firms. “Proximity definitely helps attract investors.”

Maryland offers several advan-tages and support for biotech com-panies.

“Maryland is a well-establishedhome for life sciences companies,trailing only California and

Massachusetts,” Lessing said. “Wehave strong academic institutions,like Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland and NIH, which can pro-vide core technology and support-ive governmental programs.”

Prior to his company’s mergerwith Arginetix, Lessing said,Corridor was able to license tech-nology from Hopkins, and tookadvantage of Maryland’sBiotechnology Incentive Tax Credit, designed to help Marylandcompanies attract more investmentby leveraging their credits.

The program “has become oneof state’s most important tools forgiving fledging biotechnology

companies the chance to matureand commercialize oftentimes life-saving discoveries,” Gov. MartinO’Malley stated in a recent pressrelease. The state has invested $24million in the program in the pastfour years.

“I think the Maryland biotechtax credit is the single best incen-tive we have in the state and Iapplaud the governor and the leg-islature for protecting and expand-ing this program during difficulteconomic times, said Gliknik’sBlock. “What is beautiful … is thatit mandates new equity investmentin qualified biotech companies.

HB Y HAAMID A LI

About 45 biotechnology companies in Marylandare developing innovative biotherapeutical productslike therapies for patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension, cancer and immune disorders.

Within the state, such companies tend to cluster insome areas more than in others.

See capital 26

“While VCs can, and do, find attractiveopportunities wherever they are, it is not acoincidence that our largest investors are

based in the Mid-Atlantic region.

- Gary LessingCEO, Corridor Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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About half the money invested in companies comesfrom investors outside of Maryland, meaning thatinvestors elsewhere are putting their money into cre-ating high-value, relatively high-paying jobs inMaryland.”

Founded in 2007, Gliknik develops new therapiesfor patients with cancer and immune disorders, andrecently completed a $15 million Series A financingfrom venture capital investors based in the Mid-Atlantic. The combination of a promise of the pro-gram’s further development, a clear value propositionand business model as well as a high quality team allhis company more attractive to investors, Block said.

WW hh a a tt mm oo rr ee cc a a nn bb ee dd oo nn ee ??Despite massive effort, attracting VC remains a

tough chal-lenge for many s t a r t u p s .Investors are

b e c o m i n gmore and moreselective intough econom-ic times. Jerry Parrott, chair-man of theM a r y l a n dHealth CareP r o d u c tD e v e l o p m e n tCorp., one of the organiza-

tions that helpM a r y l a n d ’ se a r l y - s t a g ebiotechs, saidin a recentrelease that his“board is high-ly selectivewhen consid-ering potential companies in which to invest.”

To attract more investment, “you must present acompelling value proposition,” Lessing said. “Thereneeds to be a clear path of how the funds you areraising will enable you to reach a value-inflectionpoint, and you [must show you] have the team andtechnology to deploy the capital successfully.”

Biotechnology comes with huge costs, Blocksaid, “and it takes as long to move a drug forwardas to build a new fighter jet or nuclear powerplant.”

What makes the difference is a new develop-ment’s likelihood of success, he said. Only a few themany drugs developed get approval and for use by patients, for instance.

“Investors understand this high risk,” Blocksaid. “They rely on us to make the highest quality scientific and business decisions to improve theodds of success.”

Parrott, whose board recently invested inGliknik, said his group was impressed with “thecompany’s innovative science and progress againstdeveloping novel therapeutics for patients with

cancer and immune disorders.”Being fiscally prudent also can help. Blockattributes his company’s successes to the tremen-dous progress it has made by “taking a whiteboardconcept and turning it into a drug that works inmany animal models, while being fiscally prudent.”

“What is really nice about our stradomerTMprogram is that we have made a recombinant (lab-oratory-grown) functional equivalent of a drug that

currently ispooled fromtens of thou-sands of donors’ blood,and which sells$3 billionannually foruse in autoim-mune dis-eases,” Blocksaid. “So wehope that willtranslate intolower risk of safety prob-lems in clinicaltrials. Only

time will tell if that is true.Half of drugsthat make it tothe clinic failfor safety rea-sons, so mod-eling a drugbased on one

that is known to be safe may be helpful. It is for thisreason that there is a fair amount of pharma inter-est in this program as we push the lead compoundtowards the clinic.”

Block said he hopes the funds will help Gliknikto initiate a clinical program for autoimmune dis-eases.

Many different firms have shown interest inMaryland companies. Investors in CorridorPharmaceuticals and Gliknik, the companies citedin this article, included Domain Partners, QuakerBioVentures, MedImmune Ventures, NewSpringCapital, Maryland Health Care ProductDevelopment Corporation, Red Abbey VenturePartners and LifeTech Development Partners.

capital continued from 25

Corridor Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Gary Lessing (right) discusses a presentation thatwill be given to potential investors. Lessing’s company recently received a fundingboost of about $15 million from several Mid-Atlantic based investors.

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

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The Greater BaltimoreCommittee is seeking nomina-

tions for the 2011 MarylandBioscience Awards. The sixthannual awards, which recognizeoutstanding achievement inMaryland’s growing bioscienceindustry, will be presentedThursday, March 29, duringbreakfast ceremonies at UMBBioPark in Baltimore.

Award winners in 2010 were:Dr. Claire M. Fraser-Liggett,director, Institute for Genome

Sciences, University of MarylandSchool of Medicine; WayneSwann, senior advisor, CrispTek,LLC; Charlene Riikonen, presi-dent and CEO, Cera ProductsInc.; and Dr. Martha Connolly,director, Maryland IndustrialPartnerships.

“Maryland’s bioscience indus-try growth is accelerating,” saidGBC President and CEO DonaldC. Fry. “These annual awards cel-

ebrate the innovative work of theresearchers, entrepreneurs, andvisionaries who are drivingMaryland’s progress as a majorbioscience research and industry center.”

The four award categories are:Outstanding Entrepreneur, BestNew Product or Progress,Leadership in Bioscience andPresident’s Award. Judges forthe awards are prominent bio-

science entrepreneurs and indus-try experts.

Nominators will be asked tosubmit documentation and nar-ratives that fulfill several criteria,then to add supporting evidenceas deemed suitable. Self-nomina-tions are accepted and encour-aged.

The deadline for nominations isMarch 4. Nomination criteria,

forms and information about theawards event can be found on the

GBC’s website, www.gbc.org.For more information, please

contact Lisbeth Pettengill at (410)727-2820 or [email protected].

GBC seeks nominations for the 2011

bioscience awards

8/7/2019 021711-Biotech 2011-FINAL


MM a a rr cc hh 22 -- 44 ,, 22 00 1111Vaccines Business CongressThe Hilton BaltimoreContact Serik Slobodskoy,[email protected](646) 895-7396www.vaxbiz.comOnly conference dedicated to foster-ing partnering opportunities in thevaccine space, bringing together big

pharma, small biotech, government,philanthropic organizations and pri-vate investment companies. Features10 case studies from top vaccine part-nerships, whose decision-makersshare their secrets to obtaining fund-ing for vaccine development.

MM a a rr cc hh 99 -- 1100 ,, 22 00 1111Workshop: Scalable Transient Protein Production in MammalianCellsBioSciConcepts,

2001 Aliceanna St., Baltimore(410) 752-4224www.biosciconcepts.comIntroduces the fundamental conceptsneeded to establish small to large-scale transient protein productionsystems using mammalian cells. Theclass reviews the four essential ele-ments of any mammalian transientproduction system: cell lines, expres-sion vectors, transient transfectionand cell culture. Workshop will bepresented again Sept. 21-22, 2011.

MM a a rr cc hh 22 88 -- 22 99 ,, 22 00 1111Fourth Annual BiospecimenResearch Network SymposiumAdvancing Cancer ResearchThrough Biospecimen ScienceBethesda North Marriot Hotel &Conference Center, Bethesda, Md.Contact Frank Bajowski,[email protected](301) 468-6004, ext. 502

Features presentations and interac-tive discussions on biospecimenquality and ways to address it. Thesymposium will address the signifi-cant impact of pre-analytical biospec-imen variables on cancer researchand molecular medicine. Hosted by NCI’s Office of Biorepositories andBiospecimen Research.

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Sixth Annual MarylandBioscience Awards9 to 10 a.m. (Registration, 8 a.m.)University of Maryland BioPark,801 W. Baltimore St., BaltimoreContact Lisbeth Pettengill,[email protected](410) 727-2820www.gbc.org/event/2192The state’s premier bioscienceawards event, sponsored by theGreater Baltimore Committee, recog-nizes outstanding achievements inMaryland’s bioscience industry.Companies and individuals arestrongly encouraged to self nomi-nate. Nominations will be acceptedthrough March 4 in four award cate-gories: Entrepreneurial, Best NewProduct or Progress, Leadership inBioscience and the President’sAward.

A A pp rr iill 44 -- 66 ,, 22 00 111112th Annual Immunogenicity forBiotherapeutics

L’Enfant Plaza, Washington, D.C.Contact Serik Slobodskoy,[email protected](646) 895-7396www.immunogenicityevent.comThe largest event designed by and forscientists driving progress and inno-vation in immunogenicity studies.Experts and scientists gather annual-ly to discuss updates on emergingregulatory guidance, industry white

studies and technology dedicated tothe science as discovering solutionsfor top challenges in the field

A A pp rr iill 22 99 ,, 22 00 1111Maryland Industrial PartnershipsResearch Funding Deadline(301) 405-3891www.mips.umd.eduMIPS promotes the development and

commercialization of products andprocesses through industry/ univer-sity research partnerships throughmatching funds to help Marylandcompanies pay for university research. Projects are initiated by thecompanies to meet their ownresearch and development goals.

MM a a yy 1122 -- 1133 ,, 22 00 1111Capital Connection ‘11JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, [email protected](703) 506-9300Visit www.capitalconnection.orgfor fees and event schedule or toregister.Attracts investors from throughoutthe country, Capital Connectionoffers networking opportunities forcapital sources of all stages, advisorsand high-level business leaders andentrepreneurs.

JJ uu nn ee 22 77 -- 33 00 ,, 22 00 1111BIO International ConventionGrand Hyatt, Washington

The Bio International Convention,held annually, is the largest globalevent for the biotechnology industry and offers key networking and part-nering opportunities as well as pro-vides insights on major trends affect-ing the industry.Visit http://convention.bio.org for afull calendar of times and associatedevents, including breakout sessionsand international case studies, a

2011 Biotech calendarfor the baltimore-washington region

021711-Biotech 2011-FINAL

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