News

06/16/2021

BIO-CAT Partners with Kerry for Global Distribution of OPTI-BIOME MB40 Probiotic

BIO-CAT, Inc. has formed a global partnership with Kerry, the Taste & Nutrition company and their BIO-CAT Microbials, LLC probiotic products division. Effective June 2021, Kerry will lead the sales, marketing, and distribution of BIO-CAT’s proprietary probiotic strain, OPTI-BIOME MB40®. OPTI-BIOME MB40® (Bacillus subtilis ATCC122264) is a non-GMO, highly-stable probiotic strain that the company says

06/15/2021

NCI Tech Opportunities Webinar: New HIV Vaccine to Treat and Prevent HIV

TTC is planning a technology opportunities webinar on July 13, 2021 from 11:00 am – noon, EST. Attendees will hear from the NCI’s Dr. Genoveffa Franchini about a new HIV vaccine with the potential to prevent HIV infection and treat HIV. The effectiveness of the new vaccine results from deletion of the V1 region from

06/15/2021

CareTaker Medical and Embody Named to MedTech Innovator Top 50 Startups

MedTech Innovator, the largest accelerator of medical device companies in the world, selected 50 companies to participate in the organization’s flagship four-month Showcase and Accelerator program, featuring the industry’s most transformative device, diagnostic, and digital health technologies from around the globe. These up-and-coming startups will receive unparalleled visibility and access to leading manufacturers, providers, investors,

06/10/2021

Understanding Barcode Verifier Discrepancies

An ISO compliant, recently recalibrated barcode verifier is arguably the best and only effective defense against barcode quality-related liability. What about barcode verifier discrepancies? There are two types of verifier discrepancies: • Inconsistency of a single verifier • Inconsistency between two or more verifiers This article focuses on the second type. A familiar scenario in

06/09/2021

NIH Awards Vibrent Health Contract to Create a New Paradigm for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded Vibrent Health, a digital health technology company powering the future of precision health research, the second phase of a contract to validate COVID-CARE, a digital health solution for pandemic response. The web and mobile application will enable fast and accurate screening, automated test

06/08/2021

GPB Scientific Gets $18M Infusion

As reported online by Richmond BizSense, GPB Scientific closed on an $18 million funding round. The money will help the company roll out its Curate cell processing system, which separates and extracts cells from blood samples to create therapies for cancer and other diseases. Funding came by way of Amgen Ventures and Vensana Capital (firms

06/08/2021

ReAlta Life Sciences Receives $3.2 Million Grant from Virginia Catalyst to Accelerate Trial for the Treatment of Acute Lung Injury Due to COVID-19

ReAlta Life Sciences has received a $3.2 million grant award from The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), to accelerate the Company’s Phase 1b clinical trial evaluating RLS-0071 for the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) due to COVID-19. The award, which is granted to Virginia companies to support

05/28/2021

Study Upgrades of the Largest Databases of Neuronal Types

A study led by researchers from the Institute Cajal of Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain in collaboration with the Bioengineering Department of George Mason University in Virginia, U.S. has updated one of the world’s largest databases on neuronal types, Hippocampome.org. The study, which is published in the journal PLOS Biology, represents the most

05/26/2021

Southern Spine Announces John E. Hart as President and Chief Executive Officer

Southern Spine, LLC, an ISO 13485:2003 certified manufacturer of implants and instruments for spinal surgery, announced that John E Hart has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer to lead the company. Hart has more than 35 years of executive leadership experience in the medical device, life science and biologics fields serving in general

05/25/2021

CIT Announces Key Additions to GAP Funds Investment Team

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), announced that CIT GAP Funds has added two new Investment Associates to its team: Dustin Dunbar and Anthony Obi Jr. As Investment Associates, Dunbar, and Obi will support CIT GAP Funds activity including deal sourcing and due diligence

05/25/2021

Are you a medical professional? KinergyCare needs your help!

KinergyCare is a Virginia-based startup and a Virginia Bio member that is requesting feedback from this community on a care coaching and coordination approach that focuses on the needs of patients with cardiovascular disease. We’re pioneering a new approach that combines patient data on health capabilities with a personalized intervention based on behavioral science. The result should

05/24/2021

Albemarle High School Teen Competes for Virginia

Virginia Bio and the Virginia Bioscience Foundation have named Albemarle High School’s, Meenakshi “Meena” Ambati, as the winner of the 2021 Virginia BioGENEius Challenge, the premier competition for high school students that recognizes outstanding research and innovation in the biotechnology field. As the Virginia BioGENEius finalist, Meena will attend the 2021 BIO Digital Conference, where

05/18/2021

ReAlta Life Sciences Expands Phase 1 Clinical Trial of RLS-0071

ReAlta Life Sciences (“ReAlta”), Inc., a company addressing life-threatening diseases through harnessing the power of the immune system, today announced that it has received a no objection letter (NOL) from Health Canada to an Amendment of the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of RLS-0071 in healthy volunteers. The study design has been modified to add

05/18/2021

Children’s National spinout AlgometRx developed a device that measures pain

A longtime pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Julia Finkel has long wanted a more objective way to measure how much pain patients are feeling. “For pain, we do it very empirically,” Dr. Finkel said. “The patient says they hurt, we give them a drug. They either feel better or they don’t…It’s done in

05/17/2021

Landos Biopharma and LianBio Announce Exclusive Collaboration and License Agreement

Landos Biopharma, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases, and LianBio, a biotechnology company dedicated to bringing paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and other major Asian markets, today announced an exclusive collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of omilancor and NX-13

05/10/2021

Landos Biopharma Announces First Patient Dosed in a Phase 2 Study of Omilancor for Crohn’s Disease

Landos Biopharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases, announced that the Company has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2 study of omilancor, Landos’ novel, orally administered, gut-restricted LANCL2 agonist, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD). “We are extremely proud of

05/07/2021

BIO-CAT Grows in Zion Crossroads

BIO-CAT, Inc., a biotechnology company that specializes in enzymes and other advanced microbial solutions, plans to add at least 30,000 square feet to its fermentation facilities in Zion Crossroads. The expansion is projected to start in 2022. The company will add several new jobs and is considering building another 30,000-square-foot section in a second phase.

05/06/2021

Contraline, Inc. Expands Board of Directors

Contraline, Inc., a venture-backed medical device company devoted to providing men and couples with long-lasting, safe, and effective male contraception, has appointed medical device industry executive Martin Emerson to its Board of Directors.

05/04/2021

AMPAC plans $25 million expansion at is Petersburg plant, adding 150 new jobs

AMPAC Fine Chemicals announced a $25 million expansion of its operations that is expected to add more than 150 new jobs. The California-based company is a top U.S. manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The plant in Petersburg previously was owned by Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals Inc., which closed it in 2014, but AMPAC reopened the site

05/04/2021

ivWatch Awarded Patient Safety Solutions Agreement with Premier, Inc.

ivWatch, LLC has been awarded a group purchasing agreement for Patient Safety Solutions with Premier, Inc. to provide more than 4,000 Premier member hospitals with greater access to the only continuous peripheral IV (PIV) site monitoring technology available in the market. The three-year agreement underscores the importance of detecting IV infiltration and extravasation events early

05/03/2021

Aditxt to Establish State-of-the-Art Immune Monitoring Center in Virginia Bio+Tech Park »

Aditxt (Aditx Therapeutics, Inc.) a biotech innovation company focused on improving the health of the immune system, announced plans to build a high-capacity AditxtScore™ Center in the Virginia Bio+Tech Park in Richmond, VA in the second half of 2021.

05/03/2021

RIVANNA® Announces Alliance With Tri-anim Health Services

RIVANNA®, developers of world-first, imaging-based medical solutions, announced they have entered into a partnership with Tri-anim Health Services, a specialty distributor of respiratory, anesthesia, and critical-care supplies, to represent and distribute the Accuro® portfolio of products in the United States.

05/03/2021

Aditxt to Establish State-of-the-Art Immune Monitoring Center in Virginia Bio+Tech Park

Aditxt (Aditx Therapeutics, Inc.) a biotech innovation company focused on improving the health of the immune system, announced plans to build a high-capacity AditxtScore™ Center in the Virginia Bio+Tech Park in Richmond, VA in the second half of 2021. Aditxt is targeting a capital investment of $31.5 million over three years to scale up its

05/03/2021

RIVANNA® Announces Alliance With Tri-anim Health Services

RIVANNA®, developers of world-first, imaging-based medical solutions, announced they have entered into a partnership with Tri-anim Health Services, a specialty distributor of respiratory, anesthesia, and critical-care supplies, to represent and distribute the Accuro® portfolio of products in the United States. RIVANNA announced a partnership with Tri-anim Health Services Tri-anim is a natural distribution choice for