News

11/16/2022

Richmond-area-based pharma company Indivior buys NARCAN developer Opiant, aims to launch new overdose reversal agent

Richmond, VA, (Richmond Times Dispatch) – Chesterfield-based Indivior, already in the business of opioid addiction treatment, is branching into overdose protection. The global pharmaceutical company entered into an agreement to acquire Opiant Pharmaceuticals Inc. for a reported $145 million. Indivior is the company best known for producing Suboxone, a commonly used medication in treating opioid addiction.

11/16/2022

BRAINBox Solutions Enrolls 1000th Patient in Pivotal, HeadSMART II Clinical Study of BRAINBox TBI Concussion Diagnostic and Prognostic Test

RICHMOND, VA. – BRAINBox Solutions today announced that the company  has enrolled the 1,000th patient in the pivotal, HeadSMART II study of its concussion diagnostic  and prognostic test, BRAINBox TBI. The multi-national, multi-site, trial is designed to  support an application for regulatory clearance by the U.S. FDA.   “We are developing the BRAINBox TBI (Traumatic Brain

11/16/2022

ZielBio Receives Orphan Drug Designation for ZB131 for the Treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.,/PRNewswire/ — ZielBio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering new treatments for cancer and other serious diseases through its innovative drug discovery platform, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to its lead program, ZB131, for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma, a rare solid-tumor cancer originating from

11/05/2022

EARLY GENETIC TESTING PREDICTS HEART DISEASE AND NOVEL THERAPIES FOR WOMEN WITH LUPUS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., /PRNewswire/ — AMPEL BioSolutions today announced a genetic precision medicine test for lupus patients that could save lives by predicting heart disease before it happens and providing decision support for prophylactic therapies.  Shared genes that predispose both to lupus and cardiovascular disease are revealed in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports Medicine.  AMPEL’s breakthrough approach characterizes inherited

11/02/2022

New Jeeva eClinical Research Technology Enables Global Diversity Inclusion and Multi-Center Collaboration

MANASSAS, VA. (PRWEB) – Diversity and inclusion in clinical trials are critical to achieving accurate and reliable results.(1) Participation in clinical trials is voluntary, and individuals of different ages, genders, races, ethnicities, genetic backgrounds, geographic locations, and environments will respond differently to the same treatments. An effective way to achieve diversity in clinical trials is

10/26/2022

AgroSpheres Raises $22 million Series B to Accelerate Commercialization and Manufacturing of Reliable Biobased Solutions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – AgroSpheres, a leader in developing the next generation of environmentally friendly crop health products, announced today that it had raised $22 million in a Series B financing round led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Ospraie Ag Science. Bidra Innovation Ventures and its existing investor, Cavallo Ventures, participated in the financing round.

10/14/2022

BIO Announces Appointment of Interim CEO

Established Industry Leader Rachel King will Serve as BIO’s Interim Leader WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) – the world’s largest science and public advocacy organization, representing 1,000 members — announced today that Rachel King, co-founder and former CEO of GlycoMimetics, Inc., has agreed to serve as interim President and CEO. King’s appointment follows Dr. Michelle

10/04/2022

BRAINBox Solutions Announces New U.S. Patent Allowance, Strengthening Biomarker Portfolio for Multi-Modal Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Test

BRAINBox Solutions, Inc announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a notice of allowance for a patent covering methods for detection of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as concussion, using Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). BDNF is an important component of the biomarker panel in the multi-modal diagnostic prognostic and

10/02/2022

Serpin Pharma completes Phase 1b/2a SPIRIT Clinical Trial

Serpin Pharma, a clinical-stage biotech company developing first in class drugs to treat human diseases caused by inflammation, reported data from its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. The results, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, report the effects of a single subcutaneous administration of SERPIN drug (SP16), a synthetic, selective LRP1 agonist, in ten patients

09/30/2022

Virginia Beach Enters into Bilateral Agreements with International Biomedical & Life Sciences Clusters

​The Department of Economic Development and the City of Virginia Beach have recently signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Biomedical & Life Sciences clusters during a recent marketing mission to Spain. These bilateral agreements will create and encourage collaboration between the four signatory parties and favor the generation of ideas that will in turn

09/22/2022

Rivus Pharmaceuticals Closes $132 Million Series B Financing to Advance HU6 for the Treatment of Obesity and Cardio-Metabolic Disorders

Rivus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving cardio-metabolic health,  announced the completion of a $132 million Series B financing led by RA Capital Management with participation from Bain Capital Life Sciences, BB Biotech AG and existing investors Longitude Capital, Medicxi and RxCapital. This financing will further support clinical advancement of lead candidate

09/21/2022

HemoShear Therapeutics Advancing Novel Modulators Against Second Target for Horizon Therapeutics’ Gout Discovery Pipeline

HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company, has earned a milestone payment for the advancement of potential lead product candidates against a second target for the treatment of gout under its collaboration with Horizon Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: HZNP). This milestone marks the fifth payment that HemoShear has earned in accordance with the

09/21/2022

Kaléo Announces First U.S. Department of Defense Supply Contract for the Rapid Opioid Countermeasure System (ROCS) Antidote for Ultra-Potent Weaponized Opioids

Kaléo, a privately held commercial-stage U.S. pharmaceutical company, announced the execution of the first contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for the procurement of the Rapid Opioid Countermeasure System (ROCS), a 10 mg Naloxone Auto-injector (naloxone hydrochloride injection) antidote for ultra-potent weaponized opioids. The contract includes an award for the manufacture and delivery

09/20/2022

Embody, Inc. Announces $10.4 Million Series C Funding Round

Embody, Inc., a privately-held medical device company focused on soft tissue healing, announced that it closed a $10.4 million Series C funding round led by Genesis Innovation Group’s cultivate(MD) Capital Funds LP. The financing will enable Embody to expand its world-class operations, post-market clinical studies of the recently launched Tapestry RC System for rotator cuff

09/20/2022

Bonumose Announces Key Advisory and Leadership Appointments

Bonumose, Inc. – an enzyme technology company with solutions for sugar reduction and other globally critical industries – is pleased to announce the following appointments. Dr. Andrew Fordyce has accepted a key advisory role with Bonumose. Dr. Fordyce most recently was Executive Vice President and Food & Beverage Divisional Head for Novozymes, a global leader

09/15/2022

NEW BREAKTHROUGH TEST DETECTS AND PREDICTS SEVERITY OF COVID-19

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., /PRNewswire/ — AMPEL BioSolutions today announced a breakthrough in precision and personalized medicine that can detect and predict the severity of COVID-19 in patients while also determining the best treatment options for each specific case. The company’s new approach, through a simple blood test, will ultimately accelerate the means of providing effective treatments to the right

09/14/2022

Streck Announces Series B Investment in Ceres Nanosciences

La Vista, Nebraska – Streck announced today a Series B investment in Ceres Nanosciences (Ceres). The funds from this investment will be used to accelerate the development and commercialization of both diagnostic and research use products utilizing Ceres’ Nanotrap® technology platform.​ “Streck has a deep presence in and knowledge of the diagnostics industry and shares

09/09/2022

With the help of software, NoVa’s Jeeva wants to increase access to clinical trials

The Manassas, Virginia SaaS company is making it easier for remote patients to connect with clinical trial data. Virginia founder Harsha Rajasimha sees clinical trials as a crucial piece of the healthcare puzzle. But not everyone gets to take advantage of them. Before he launched a startup, Rajasimha was just an older brother who had

09/08/2022

Civica Inc. to Expand in Greater Richmond-Petersburg Region, Investing $27.8 Million for a New Testing Facility

Nonprofit generic drug company to create 51 new jobs at testing and R&D lab in Chesterfield County that will support Petersburg manufacturing operation RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin today announced that non-profit Civica Inc. (Civica) will invest $27.8 million to establish a new laboratory testing facility at Meadowville Technology Park in Chesterfield County. The company

09/07/2022

Adial Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive In-Vivo Non-clinical Data with Purnovate’s PNV-6005 as a Potential Treatment for Ulcerative Colitis

Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced that Purnovate, Inc., a subsidiary of Adial focused on developing novel molecules targeting the adenosine receptors for the treatment of major unmet medical needs, achieved positive in-vivo data from its study with mice treated with Purnovate’s PNV-6005 as a potential treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases. PNV-6005 is a selective adenosine 2A

09/02/2022

White House to award $52.9 million grant to Va. Biotech authority

The Richmond region has won a $52.9 million federal grant to create a hub for research and advanced manufacturing of essential medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients. The White House announced the grant to the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority on Friday. It is among 21 projects that will receive grants from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, using a $1 billion

08/29/2022

VIPC’s CCF Announces $1.75M In Funding to Support Virginia Startups Technology Testing and Market Validation

The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) announced new grant funding totaling approximately $1.75 million to 24 Virginia small businesses through its Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF). CCF is a competitive program that seeks to fund high-potential, Virginia-based, for-profit technology companies at the pre-seed stage of commercialization and provides grants up to $75,000. Each award is matched

08/25/2022

HemoShear Therapeutics Appoints Brian Wamhoff, PhD, Interim Chief Executive Officer

HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing drugs for rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Brian Wamhoff, PhD, as interim chief executive officer. Dr. Wamhoff is a founder of HemoShear where he co-developed HemoShear’s REVEAL-Tx™ drug discovery platform, which combines biological and computational models of human diseases to accelerate drug development. He has led

08/22/2022

Adial Pharmaceuticals Names Cary Claiborne as Chief Executive Officer

Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADIL; ADILW) (“Adial” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for the treatment and prevention of addiction and related disorders, announced the appointment of Cary J. Claiborne as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Claiborne, who has 18 years of experience in leadership roles with clinical and