News

11/21/2024

TearSolutions, Inc. Secures $3M Series B Funding

TearSolutions, Inc., a privately held biotech company developing potentially disruptive therapies for the treatment of ocular surface related diseases, today announced the successful closure of a $3M Series B round designed to accelerate its development programs for rare corneal diseases at both pre-clinical and clinical stages. “This round of financing is significant for several reasons,

11/21/2024

ReAlta Life Sciences Announces Appointment of Distinguished Biopharmaceutical Leader Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D. as Chairman of the Board

ReAlta Life Sciences, Inc. (“ReAlta” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to saving lives by rebalancing the inflammatory response to address rare and acute inflammatory diseases, announced the appointment of Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D. as Chairman of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Edward A. “Buzz” Heidt Jr., who has served

11/13/2024

VIPC Awards Regional Innovation Ecosystem Grant to Verge to Accelerate the Growing Innovation Economy Throughout Roanoke and The New River Valley

The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) announced that Roanoke and Blacksburg, Virginia-based Verge has been awarded a Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) grant for $200,000. Verge is the region’s front door for innovators, founders, and funders to work together and to provide a growing roster of companies – both startups and established – with resources to

11/13/2024

Grenova Announces Katherine Marrs as New CEO to Drive Innovation and Growth

Grenova, an industry leader in sustainable laboratory solutions, has appointed Katherine Marrs as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Marrs succeeds Lane Major, who has served as CEO since 2023 and will continue to support Grenova as a member of the Board of Directors. Marrs has been instrumental in driving Grenova’s growth strategy as the

11/12/2024

Virginia Catalyst Announces Round 18 of Grant Funding

The Virginia Catalyst announced today that it is accepting letters of intent (LOI) for Grant Round 18 to fund the development and commercialization of life science projects that address major unmet needs for improving human health and advance Virginia’s economy. “Innovation often comes when interdisciplinary teams including members such as scientists, engineers, physicians, biologists, entrepreneurs,

11/08/2024

Catalyzing Crucial Cross-Border Collaborations and Innovation to Address Unmet Needs in Rare Diseases

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a rare disease (RD), or orphan disease, as affecting fewer than 65 per 100,000 people. Although individual RDs are uncommon, collectively, over 10,000 rare diseases impact about 400 million people globally—roughly 5% of the world’s population. Almost 95% of these diseases remain without a single approved treatment. Orphan drugs

11/05/2024

Adial Pharmaceuticals Appoints Vinay Shah as Chief Financial Officer

Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for the treatment and prevention of addiction and related disorders, today announced the appointment of Vinay Shah as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, effective November 16, 2024. Vinay Shah is an accomplished Chief Financial Officer with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical,

10/29/2024

Kaléo Announces Chief Development Officer

Kaléo, a fully integrated pharmaceutical company dedicated to inventing, manufacturing, and commercializing life-transforming products, today announced the appointment of Theresa Matkovits, Ph.D., as its new Chief Development Officer. Dr. Matkovits brings a wealth of experience as a transformational C-suite business leader with a strong track record of driving global drug development and commercialization efforts. With

10/28/2024

AbbVie to Acquire Aliada Therapeutics, Strengthening Focus in Alzheimer’s Disease and Neuroscience Pipeline

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Aliada Therapeutics today announced a definitive agreement under which AbbVie will acquire Aliada, a biotechnology company advancing therapies using a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology to address challenging central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Aliada’s lead investigational asset utilizing this delivery technology, ALIA-1758, is an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody in development for

10/25/2024

Johnson & Johnson Innovation taps new head for D.C. incubator

Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced the appointment of Rachel Rath, MBA, MPH, as the Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS. Rachel assumes this role as a natural progression from her position as Director of the BARDA Alliance for Johnson & Johnson Innovation where she successfully led the management and

10/23/2024

Advancing Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Central Virginia: The Success of the GO Virginia Grant

Activation Capital is proud to announce the successful closeout of a pivotal GO Virginia grant, addressing the urgent need to secure access to and reduce the costs of essential medicines. This grant laid the foundation for Central Virginia’s growth as a hub for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing (APM) by leveraging the region’s strengths in advanced manufacturing,

10/22/2024

Caretaker Medical Awarded the Grand Prize in NIH RADx Tech for Maternal Health Challenge

Caretaker Medical, a digital health company focused on developing hemodynamic monitoring devices, today announced that it has been awarded the $525,000 grand prize in the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology for Maternal Health Challenge. The award recognizes Caretaker’s wireless, wearable wrist device, VitalStream, that can be used to monitor

10/22/2024

Quoin Pharmaceuticals Announces Further International Expansion of Ongoing Clinical Trials for Netherton Syndrome

Quoin Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: QNRX) (the “Company” or “Quoin”), a clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on rare and orphan diseases, today announces the further expansion of its on-going Netherton Syndrome (NS) clinical studies to include two additional international sites in the United Kingdom (UK). These sites, Great Ormond Street Hospital and St. Thomas’ Hospital,

10/21/2024

AgroSpheres and BASF Announce Major Strategic Partnership

AgroSpheres, a biotechnology leader in sustainable crop protection and crop health, and BASF, a global leader in agricultural solutions, are excited to announce their strategic partnership on a category defining novel bioinsecticide. This collaboration marks a significant step forward in sustainable agriculture solutions aimed at enhancing crop protection. The companies are working together to develop

10/17/2024

Charlottesville startup KeViRx tackles acute lung injuries

Charlottesville startup KeViRx Inc. is developing new drugs that target inflammation for people with acute lung injuries. The company received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense for further research to grow from animal testing to preparing for an investigational new drug meeting with the Food and Drug Administration. KeViRx’s goal is to

10/15/2024

Currie Medical to expand in Norfolk

Currie Medical, a medical device manufacturer, plans to invest $1.22 million to expand its operations in Norfolk, creating an estimated 60 jobs. Based in Franklin, Tennessee, Currie Medical will lease a 30,000-square-foot building at 3701 E. Virginia Beach Blvd. in Norfolk, where it will house its medical device reprocessing operation and distribution center. Currie has

10/15/2024

Cerillo Introduces the Industry’s First Standardized Co-Culture System — Duet Revolutionizes Microbial Interaction and Isolation Studies

Cerillo, a leader in cellular analytics, announces the release of Duet, the first standardized co-culture system that allows researchers to explore microbial and cellular interactions in real time. Designed to address challenges in microbial research, Duet offers a novel approach to studying the dynamics between different microbial populations, enabling more precise, reproducible, and reliable results in fields ranging

10/15/2024

Serpin Pharma Secures $2 Million NCI Grant for Innovative Neuropathy Treatment

Serpin Pharma, a Virginia-based biopharmaceutical company, is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This grant will support the clinical development of SP16-3M, a groundbreaking peptide drug designed to prevent chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in breast cancer

10/14/2024

George Mason scientist secures $1.4M DTRA grant to study viruses’ impact on organ health

George Mason University researcher Aarthi Narayanan recently secured a $1.4M grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to investigate how an infection spreads between organs, and how a therapeutic will impact connected organs. The work will initially focus on mosquito-transmitted viruses while Narayanan hopes to expand the implications from these studies to other human

10/11/2024

FDA Approves Genentech’s Itovebi, a Targeted Treatment for Advanced Hormone Receptor-Positive, HER2-Negative Breast Cancer With a PIK3CA Mutation

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ItovebiTM (inavolisib), in combination with palbociclib (Ibrance®) and fulvestrant, for the treatment of adults with endocrine-resistant, PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast

10/10/2024

VitalStream Offers Continuous Hemodynamic Monitoring Solution Amid IV Fluid Shortage

Caretaker Medical, a pioneer in advanced hemodynamic monitoring technology, is highlighting the critical role of its VitalStream solution in addressing the ongoing IV fluid shortage caused by Hurricane Helene. As healthcare providers face challenges in maintaining continuous blood pressure monitoring due to the limited availability of Baxter IV fluids, VitalStream offers a reliable and innovative

10/10/2024

RIVANNA initiates multi-site first-in-human study for Accuro XV musculoskeletal imaging system

RIVANNA®, developers of imaging-based medical solutions, has announced the launch of the first multi-site study employing the Accuro® XV musculoskeletal imaging system. This milestone follows a $30.5 million funding option executed in 2023 by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S.

10/09/2024

LifeNet Health’s Rapid Growth Continues with Acquisition of State-of-the-Art Virginia Beach Research Laboratory

A company that is a global leader in regenerative medicine has acquired a cutting-edge research laboratory in Virginia Beach. LifeNet Health will use the laboratory as a center of excellence for groundbreaking liver disease research and sports medicine applications. The dual function will provide better health solutions for a growing number of patients. Situated near

10/09/2024

AMPEL BioSolutions: Precision Medicine Blood Testing Predicts Heart Disease and Therapeutic Intervention

AMPEL BioSolutions announced a precision medicine blood test that could save lives by predicting heart disease before it happens and providing decision support for prophylactic therapies.  Inflammatory and immune system abnormalities identified in the blood of individuals predisposed to heart disease by AMPEL two years ago were confirmed and extended in the peer-reviewed Cell iScience paper announced

10/02/2024

Afton Scientific to Expand Biopharmaceutical Facility in Albemarle County

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that Afton Scientific, a manufacturer of sterile injectable pharmaceuticals, will invest over $200 million to expand its biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Albemarle County. The project will create hundreds of new jobs. Virginia successfully competed with several states for the project. “Afton Scientific’s multi-million dollar expansion in Albemarle County is a powerful testament