Dear Bioscience Advocate:

elcome to the first of the Greater Baltimore Committee's bi-monthly newsletter covering the development of the life science and bioscience industry in the Greater Baltimore region. One of the GBC's most important program priorities is to nurture and develop the bioscience industry in the region by educating business, political, and community leaders on the importance of life science to the future economic growth of the region. Additionally, we will be strongly advocating for changes in public policy and strategic public investments that will enhance bioscience activity in the Greater Baltimore region.

Every two months, we will be looking at the progress that has been made at our regional bioparks, the work of existing companies in the region, pertinent legislative news, developments at area research universities, and bioscience events.

We want to thank all of the companies that have provided us information for this first issue and we welcome input from others in the coming months. Please feel free to email your news items, personnel changes, and suggestions to Liz Pettengill at lisbethp@gbc.org.

The GBC is committed to helping build and nurture the bioscience community in our region and in supporting your companies as they grow. We look forward to working with you and for you.

Sincerely,
Donald C. Fry, President, Greater Baltimore Committee

NEWS FROM THE BIOSCIENCE PARKS

The East Baltimore Life Sciences and Technology Park
Development of Phase I of the East Baltimore Life Sciences and Technology Park has begun. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first building are scheduled for fall of 2005. The Institute for Basic Biomedical Science of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will be the lead tenant for this building to be built at 855 North Wolfe Street. The building will connect to other university research facilities via a sky bridge across East Madison Street.

This facility will be the first of five life science/office buildings in the Park. Designed to meet the advanced requirements of sophisticated research organizations, this 295,000 square foot building can be configured to support the requirements of a full range of users. Base building specifications include:

• Floor-to-floor heights of 15’ 8”
• 38,000 square foot plates with relatively few columns
• Interior loading docks with service elevator connections to all floors
• Consideration for the needs of vibration-sensitive equipment
• Cooling and air-supply for 100 percent outside air
• Sophisticated building management systems
• A sustainable design approach that will achieve LEED certification.
  

The Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, a joint venture between Forest City Enterprises and Presidential Partners, is developing the first 31-acre phase of this initiative. Presidential Partners is a group of minority builders and developers that includes Doracon/Lambda Development, Legacy Harrison Enterprises, Banks Contracting Company and The Wilkinson Group.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Biopark
The UMB Biopark, a privately developed, $400 million biomedical research and development complex under construction on the west side of the University of Maryland (UMB) has scheduled opening ceremonies for Building One for October 18, 2005 as part of UMB Founder’s Week.

Site preparation for Building Two is underway and the parking garage is up. With six stories and 120,000 of research and office space, Building One will house tenants ranging from Harbor Bank to Shin Nippon Biomedical laboratories (SNBL) who will occupy the top two floors and serve as the anchor tenant. SNBL conducts Phase I clinical trials for pharmaceutical firms.

There will be some space for emerging companies. Building One will also include the Vascular Biology Group of University of Maryland Medicine, the recently recruited unit of the American Red Cross Holland Labs. The center conducts research on conditions such as stroke, heart attack, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune diseases. UPM Pharmaceuticals, a Baltimore-based drug technology firm formed in 1997 by School of Pharmacy researchers will be in Building One as will Acceptys, a company involved in studies of the human response to disease.

A joint venture of WJS & Associates and Townsend Capital will develop Building Two. Gaudreau Inc. is the designer for the projected six-story, 170,000 square foot building to be located across the street from Building One. There will be ten buildings in the UMB Biopark at full build out.

techcenter @UMBC
Lentigen Joins Incubator Program

Lentigen Corporation has joined the techcenter at UMBC Incubator Program. Lentigen is a start-up company that focuses on harnessing the power of Lentiviral vector (LV) gene delivery and expression technology for a wide variety of applications in biotechnology and medicine.

Lentigen’s CEO is Boro Dropulic, formerly an adjunct assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the founder and chief scientific officer of VIRxSYS Corporation. At VIRxSYS, Dropulic led a multidisciplinary team to initiate and successfully complete the first LV clinical trial in humans.

Rockville based Omnia Biologics and Lentigen have signed a master services agreement for Omnia to provide Lentigen with access to its cGMP facilities and services. Omnia Biologics is a contract manufacturer focused on clinical trials material manufacture of innovative biopharmaceuticals.

New Building at bwtech@UMBC is Fully Leased

International property developer Grosvenor announced that its 60,000 square foot Class A office building at bwtech@UMBC is 100 percent leased. Invoke Systems took 6,500 SF to house its growing technology consulting and development practice. UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging signed on for 4,218 SF and the remaining 1,719 was taken by local start-up Convergent Technologies.

NEWS FROM BIOSCIENCE COMPANIES IN THE GREATER BALTIMORE REGION

Aurora Analytics, LLC has launched its website at www.umbc.edu/aurora. Aurora Analytics develops and manufactures innovative consumer and research diagnostic products.

SPI USA, www.usaspi.com, a firm that offers consulting and on-site training for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical commercial sectors, has signed an exclusive agreement to offer the Bio-Production Workshop developed by the University of Maryland. The workshop focuses on fermentation, cell culture, separations and purifications. It is designed to explain why and how bioprocessing is able to produce complex protein products starting from simple microorganisms and cells.

FASgen, Inc., www.fasgen.com, a drug development company founded by four Johns Hopkins researchers to create new therapeutic products based on the selective inhibition of fatty acid biosyntheses, was awarded a $500,000 grant from NIH to complete the final preclinical safety and animal efficacy work in support of the Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) IND submission for its lead proprietary compound, FAS20013. Fasgen also secured a $2 million investment from a private investor to support the MDR-TB drug development and clinical trial program. With MDR-TB listed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a potential biological warfare threat, FASgen has submitted materials in support of funding to make FAS20013 available for treatment of MDR-TB under the Biodefense programs sponsored by DHS.

Sleep Solutions, Inc. (SSI), www.sleep-solutions.com, is launching a national pulse oximetry testing service directly to home health and durable medical equipment providers, as well as individual physicians. This new service will be provided free of charge to home health and durable medical equipment providers. Pulse oximetry is the standard diagnostic text required by Medicare and other major insurance companies to patients who need oxygen therapy. Because of a sophisticated IT and distribution infrastructure, SSI is able to provide accurate and timely overnight pulse oximetry testing services.

BioFortis, Inc.'s, www.biofortis.com, flagship product Lamatrix recently passed Security Certification and Accreditation at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which subscribes to a site license. Labmatrix is a Research Information Management System (RIMS) designed to facilitate collection and integration of data resulting from all types of biomedical research studies, including clinical investigation and translational research. BioFortis, Inc. was awarded a challenge grant from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and an STTR grant from the National Cancer Institute for more than $2 million to further develop and commercialize its bioscience research integration software platform.

NEWS FROM THE INCUBATORS

TEDCO Ranked #1 Active Seed Fund Investor for 2nd Year
Entrepreneur magazine ranked TEDCO, www.marylandtedco.org, as the number one active seed fund investor for the second year in a row. TEDCO has supported nearly 30 emerging bioscience companies with its Maryland Technology Development Fund and 30 bioscience technologies in Maryland universities with its University Technology Development Fund. For a description of TEDCO’s growing portfolio companies and funding programs, visit the TEDCO website.

UPCOMING REGIONAL EVENTS

Dr. Randal Mills, CEO, Osiris Therapeutics
Tuesday, September 13, 2005/8:00 a.m.-9:15 a.m.
111 South Calvert St., Suite 1700, Baltimore
Sponsored by: Greater Baltimore Committee
Fourth in the Bioscience Speakers Series for 2005
Contact: Nancy Marks at nancym@gbc.org

Montgomery County Campus Welcome Back Social Event
Wednesday, September 14, 2005/ 5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.
Montgomery County Campus – Rockville
Central Building, 2nd Floor Outside on the Patio
Sponsored by: Hopkins Biotech Network
Contact: Tameka Lundy at Tameka.Lundy@digene.com

Biofocus, In-depth Training in Basics of Bioscience
Thursday, September 29 and Friday, September 30, 2005/8:30 - noon
111 South Calvert St., Suite 1700, Baltimore
Sponsored by BioTech Primer and the Greater Baltimore Committee
Contact: Nancy Marks at nancym@gbc.org

2005 Mid-Atlantic Bio Conference
Wednesday, October 26 and Thursday, October 27, 2005
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center – Washington, DC
Sponsored by: MDBio, MAVA, TechCouncil of Maryland, VaBio
Contact: www.Midatlanticbio.org