Company News

Nanochon, a Washington, DC-based orthopedic device biotech company has raised $4 million in its series seed prime fundraising round. The round was led by The University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group Seed Fund, with participation from Cultivate (MD), Alumni Venture Group, and Mountain State Capital, among others. Nanochon intends to use the funds to …

AgroSpheres, a biotechnology company pioneering breakthroughs in sustainable crop protection and crop health, today announced the signing of a major collaboration with FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC), a global leader in agriculture sciences. The long-term alliance represents a major milestone in launching AgroSpheres’ vertically integrated product pipeline. Powered by a recent $25M Series B funding round and construction …

The Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council’s TechNite 2024 presented by Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, recognized all the elements that make the Roanoke-Blacksburg innovation ecosystem so dynamic. TechNite 2024 was held Wednesday, May, 8 at the iconic Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. RBTC’s annual celebration is highly anticipated within the regional technology community, and hundreds of local and …

CEL-SCI Corporation, the Vienna, Virginia-based biotechnology company with operations in Baltimore, Wednesday received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to move forward on an investigational cancer immunotherapy study for its drug Multikine. The project will study the drug’s effectiveness in newly diagnosed advanced primary head and neck cancer patients with no lymph node …

Phlow Corp., a U.S.-based certified B Corporation leveraging advanced development and manufacturing processes to re-imagine the domestic production of pharmaceutical products critical to U.S. healthcare, announced today that it has appointed General Gustave F. Perna to the Phlow Business Advisory Board (PBAB). As America’s modern medicine manufacturer, Phlow works closely with its business advisory board, …

Caretaker Medical, a leading innovator in advanced hemodynamic monitoring solutions, today announced the launch of its VitalStream® Cardiogenic Shock Continuous Monitoring Roadmap at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2024 meeting. This roadmap aligns with the National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative[i] criteria and timelines, empowering clinicians with a streamlined approach to early identification, and …

The Board of Directors of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) has announced that it has unanimously selected Joe Benevento as President and CEO of VIPC. Benevento has led VIPC as Interim President and CEO since September 2023 and previously served as Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2022. …

AMPEL BioSolutions has been selected as a member – or “spoke” – of the Customer Experience Hub of ARPANET-H, a prestigious nationwide health innovation network launched by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).  This national effort is designed to accelerate commercialization of health breakthroughs for populations that urgently need them. The Customer Experience Hub in Dallas joins Boston …

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has found that 100% of IV leakage incidents were prevented by a proprietary patient monitoring system from ivWatch, which could potentially save patients the pain or discomfort of adverse IV events. The initial two-week phase of the study, which was published in the British Journal of Nursing, found that continuous …

Kaléo, a privately-held U.S. pharmaceutical company today announced their selection by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to develop the latest generation pralidoxime chloride auto-injector as a countermeasure against organophosphate or nerve agent poisoning. …

Activation Capital, an innovation ecosystem development organization, announced today that it has appointed Jim Pannucci, Ph.D., PMP as its Vice President of Entrepreneurship. As the new Vice President of Entrepreneurship, Dr. Pannucci will help Activation Capital continue to grow a deep talent base of life sciences entrepreneurs operating in the region and help empower them …

A local pharma company and player in a regional effort to build a pharmaceutical hub in Central Virginia has started manufacturing operations. Richmond-based Phlow Corp. recently began manufacturing ingredients used in medicines at a facility at 2818 N. Normandy Drive in Petersburg, according to Robby Demeria, the company’s chief corporate affairs officer. The 19,200-square-foot facility …

TearSolutions, Inc., a privately held biotech company developing potentially disruptive therapies for the treatment of Dry Eye Disease (DED) and other ocular surface related diseases, today announced that Louis M Alpern, MD, MPH, FACS, FICS has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. “Dr. Alpern brings extensive real-world clinical experience treating patients with ocular …

RIVANNA®, a developer of imaging-based medical solutions, names Craig Loomis as senior director of product management. With over 25 years of extensive experience in global product development and commercialization within the healthcare sector, Craig Loomis will play a vital role in advancing RIVANNA’s new product commercialization strategies. Before joining RIVANNA, Mr. Loomis held progressively responsible …

ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. (“ReAlta” or the “Company”), a mid-stage clinical biotech company dedicated to saving lives by rebalancing the inflammatory response to address life-threatening diseases,  announces that the company will be utilizing the preclinical services program offered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to evaluate RLS-0071 as a medical countermeasure …

AMPEL BioSolutions announces a breakthrough in personalized precision medicine that will revolutionize the way doctors manage the autoimmune disease Lupus.  Revealed in the peer-reviewed journal Genome Medicine and being made available to patients through a US follow-on study, the LuGENE® blood test forecasts patient flares and drug targets from gene expression utilizing predictive AI. The LuGENE® lab test is now launching at …

LifeNet Health, a global leader in regenerative medicine, recently collaborated with AP biology students at Landstown High School to offer hands‐on learning experiences with human tissue and cellular solutions. This initiative is part of the Life Sciences Virginia pilot program, which aims to foster interest in life science careers among students and cultivate a talent …

The NIMML Institute (“NIMML”), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit institute dedicated to the discovery of novel precision medicines for autoimmune diseases, today recognized its co-founders, Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera and Dr. Raquel Hontecillas, and scientific director Dr. Andrew Leber for their leadership in the discovery and development of NX-13 that enabled today’s acquisition of Landos Biopharma, Inc. …

Rural Southwest and Southside Virginia are in line for a new six-figure grant for entrepreneurship, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation has announced. The innovation partnership, which held its board meeting Wednesday at the New College Institute in Martinsville, gave word at a Tuesday night dinner that it will commit $100,000. That’s the latest grant in …

Tagatose, a monosaccharide that has gained popularity for its ability to meet calorie-reduction targets without compromising taste, texture or function, is now the first sweetener to attain the NutraStrong™ Prebiotic Verified certification. Bonumose, Inc., a producer of tagatose, and ASR Group, its distributor, are proud to announce that tagatose is also the first ingredient to earn …

James Grinias, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Science & Mathematics, at Rowan University has received $356,993 in Small Business Technology Transfer funding from the U.S. Army to develop a portable system for detecting evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the blood of service members. Grinias …

After years of supporting startups that license inventions created by university researchers, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation has launched its first formal Startup Accelerator program. “Our accelerator will fast-track our VCU-borne companies, giving them more personalized coaching and advisory services from our lineup of entrepreneur experts-in-residence,” said P. Srirama Rao, …

Springbok Analytics, a Charlottesville medical data company that creates 3D models from X-rays and MRIs, has received a $1.7 million government grant to develop a commercially viable algorithm that can detect and diagnose shoulder injuriesThe grant, announced Tuesday, comes from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research grant program. It follows a $51,409 grant …

The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced that the public and private sector stakeholders in the Richmond-Petersburg region, working together as the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, will receive one of the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) Development Awards including $1M in funding. NSF Engines represent one of the single largest broad investments …